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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


THE    LANDING 


OF    THE 


FRENCH  ATLANTIC  CABLE 


,    MASS., 


JULY,   1869. 


BOSTON : 

ALFRED    MUDGE    &    SON,    PRINTERS,    34    SCHOOL    STREET. 

1869. 


L  -5L5 


INTKODUCTOEY. 


A  very  general  desire  having  been  expressed  that  some  account  of  the 
circumstances  attending  the  landing  of  the  French  Atlantic  Cable  at  Dux- 
bury  should  be  preserved  in  a  form  more  compact  and  permanent  than 
that  of  the  public  journals,  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  of  the 
Celebration  to  do  honor  to  the  occasion  have  caused  the  following  detailed 
narrative  to  be  made.  It  is  compiled  chiefly  from  the  press  reports, 
which  were  unusually  full  and  accurate. 

It  is  believed  that  the  great  event  of  the  landing  of  the  first  Trans- 
atlantic Telegraphic  Cable  on  American  shores  is  important  enough  to 
possess,  not  only  a  peculiar  local,  but  a  general,  historic  interest,  which 
merits  a  careful  preservation  of  a  record  of  all  the  circumstances  con- 
nected with  it. 

THE  COMPILERS. 


M37:1021 


THE  TOWN  OF  DTJXBUM. 


IT  is  not  within  the  design  of  the  compilers  of  this  brief 
account  of  the  "  Cable  Celebration  "  to  give  even  a  sketch  of  the 
history  of  Duxbury;  and  yet  an  allusion  here  to  some  of  the 
circumstances  connected  with  this  ancient  town  may  not,  it  is 
thought,  be  inappropriate. 

The  very  name  of  Duxbury  has  a  peculiar  historic  interest; 
for  it  connects  us,  in  thought,  with  the  first  military  hero  of  the 
early  settlers  of  New  England,  the  name  of  the  seat  of  the 
Standish  family  in  England  being  Duxbury  Hall,  and  out  of 
respect  to  that  valiant  hero,  Myles  Standish,  who  performed  such 
distinguished  service  for  the  Plymouth  Colony,  and  who  settled 
in  Duxbury  about  the  year  1631, —  six  years  before  its  incor- 
poration as  a  town, — was  it  thus  named.  It  shares  with  Plymouth 
the  honor  of  being  settled  by  several  of  those  who  came  over  in 
the  "  May  Flower,"  and  who  signed,  in  her  cabin,  that  immortal 
instrument  whose  spirit  pervades  American  institutions  to-day. 
No  town  could  have  had  a  nobler  origin.  In  none  repose 
the  honored  ashes  of  a  more  glorious  ancestry;  the  in- 
habitants of  none  perpetuate  names  more  truly  illustrious, 
or  more  worthy  of  lasting  reverence.  Here  dwelt  the  saintly 
Brewster,  whose  unswerving  fidelity  and  serene  faith  were  illus- 
trated amid  the  severest  trials.  Here  are  still  the  remains  of 
the  homes  of  the  heroic  and  dauntless  Standish  and  of  the  wise 
and  faithful  Alden ;  and  here  Collier,  and  Howland,  and  Soule, 
the  Southworths,  the  Bradfords,  the  Delanos  and  Spragues, 
played  their  worthy,  and  still  un-forgotten,  parts  in  the  foundation 
of  an  Empire. 


Selected  as  the  abode  of  such  men,  in  such  eventful  times, 
Duxbury  has,  as  may  be  well  supposed,  an  interesting,  and,  in 
some  respects,  a  striking  history,  of  which,  now  that  recent 
events  have  called  her  once  more  into  notice,  she  may  well  be 
proud.  Formerly,  in  the  way  of  enterprise,  and  daring  and 
successful  industry,  the '  leading  town  of  Plymouth  County, 
though  for  a  few  years  past,  from  the  effect  of  unpropitious 
circumstances,  somewhat  tending  to  decline,  it  is  believed  that, 
under  the  new  impulses  which  are  now  active,  and  with  the  new 
facilities  for  business  and  transportation,  and  the  means  of 
readier  and  easier  access  which  are  in  contemplation,  and  which 
are  sure  to  be  established  in  the  near  future,  she  will  once  more 
take  the  high  rank  among  her  neighbors  to  which  her  noble 
antecedents  give  her  a  rightful  claim. 

The  geographical  position  of  Duxbury  is  all  that  could  be  de- 
sired, either  as  a  place  for  business  or  for  recreation.  In  the 
old  days,  her  enterprise  in  maritime  affairs  made  for  her  a 
world-wide  fame,  and  Duxbury  ships,  built  and  owned  by  Dux- 
bury  men,  and  commanded  by  Duxbury  captains,  gave  her  an 
honored  name  wherever  commerce  unfurled  its  radiant  flag. 
Along  the  shores  of  her  beautiful  bay,  and  by  the  borders  of  her 
quiet  rivers,  the  scenes  of  cheerful  labor  told  of  that  provident 
energy  and  thrift  which  bring  prosperity  alike  to  the  employer 
and  the  employed. 

As  late  as  the  year  1837,  according  to  Winsor's  history  of 
Duxbury,  there  were  built  here  nearly  12,000  tons  of  shipping, 
and  the  late  Mr.  Ezra  Weston,  for  a  long  time  considered  the 
largest  ship-owner  in  the  United  States,  resided  here.  The 
names  of  the  leading  men  of  Duxbury,  in  these  old  days  of  her 
prosperity  and  renown,  are  now,  for  the  most  part,  worthily  per- 
petuated, not  only  by  the  present  residents  of  Duxbury  and 
Boston,  but,  in  some  instances,  by  those  dwelling  in  the  most 
distant  cities  of  the  globe,  in  the  Westons  and  Winsors  the 
Spragues  and  Drews,  the  Frazars  and  Lorings,  the  Bradfords 


and  Aldens,  who  maintain  well  the  fair  repute  of  their  pro- 
genitors. 

The  location  of  Duxbury,  on  the  coast  some  thirty-five  miles 
southeast  of  Boston,  is  exceedingly  beautiful,  and  possesses 
many  natural  advantages  which  seem  to  indicate  for  it  in  the 
future  a  career  worthy  of  its  renown  in  the  past,  both  as  a  place 
of  business  activity,  and  a  resort  for  those  who  are  seeking 
health  and  pleasure.  It  is  situated  on  the  shores  of  a  bay  some 
four  miles  long,  by  three  wide,  and  which  is  protected  by  a 
magnificent  beach  some  seven  miles  in  length.  Within  this  fine 
harbor  is  Clark's  Island,  a  spot  forever  memorable,  and  conse- 
crated by  the  first  Sabbath  worship  on  the  shores  of  New  Eng- 
land. Bancroft,  in  his  History  of  the  United  States,  thus 
graphically  describes  the  experience  of  the  Pilgrims  at  this 
place:  "After  some  hours'  sailing,  a  storm  of  snow  and  rain 
begins ;  the  sea  swells ;  the  rudder  breaks  j  the  boat  must  now 
be  steered  with  oars  j  the  storm  increases ;  night  is  at  hand ;  to 
reach  the  harbor  before  dark,  as  much  sail  as  possible  is  borne  9 
the  mast  breaks  into  three  pieces ;  the  sails  fall  overboard ;  but 
the  tide  is  favorable.  The  pilot,  in  dismay,  would  have  run  the 
boat  on  shore  in  a  cove  full  of  breakers.  '  About  with  her/ 
exclaimed  a  sailor,  'or  we  are  cast  away.'  They  get  her  about 
immediately,  and,  passing  over  the  surf,  they  enter  a  fair  sound, 
and  shelter  themselves  under  the  lee  of  a  small  rise  of  land.  It 
is  dark,  and  the  rain  beats  furiously  j  yet  the  men  are  so 
cold,  and  wet,  and  weak,  they  slight  the  danger  to  be  appre- 
hended from  the  savages,  and.  after  great  difficulty,  kindle  a  fire 
on  shore. 

"  Morning,  as  it  dawned,  showed  the  place  to  be  a  small  island 
within  the  entrance  of  a  harbor.  The  day  was  required  for 
rest  and  preparations.  Time  was  precious ;  the  season  advanc- 
ing; their  companions  were  left  in  suspense.  The  next  day 
was  the  '  Christian  Sabbath.'  Nothing  marks  the  character  of 
the  Pilgrims  more  fully,  than  that  they  kept  it  sacredly,  though 
every  consideration  demanded  haste." 


8 

The  beach  of  which  we  have  spoken  runs,  in  a  general  direc- 
tion from  north  to  south,  from  Cut  River  to  the  Gurnet,  and 
towards  its  northern  end  it  sweeps  to  the  west,  forming  an 
extensive  curve.  In  this  curve,  which  is  sheltered  from  the  full 
violence  of  northeast  gales,  and  directly  opposite  Rouse's  Hum- 
mock, is  the  spot  selected  as  the  landing  place  of  the  French 
Atlantic  Cable.  From  the  Hummock  to  the  old  Bank  Building, 
the  terminus  of  the  telegraphic  cable,  it  is  a  distance  of  one  and 
three-quarters  miles.  The  cable  is  landed  on  the  main  land  at 
Duxbury  at  the  Old  Cove,  and  is  carried  through  Cove  Street,  a 
distance  of  one-eighth  of  a  mile,  to  the  Bank  Building.  From 
the  Old  Cove  to  the  Gurnet  by  water  it  is  a  distance  of  seven 
and  a  half  miles ;  by  a  straight  course  five  miles.  From  the 
railroad  station,  in  Kingston,  to  the  Old  Cove  it  is  a  distance  of 
about  five  miles,  ai:d  from  the  latter  to  Standish's  Hill  three 
miles.  Between  these  two  points,  running  north  and  south,  is 
the  principal  street  of  the  place,  called  Washington  Street. 
From  the  Old  Cove  to  the  Hummock  it  is  a  distance  of  one  and 
a  half  miles,  across  a  large  tract  of  salt  marsh,  intersected  by 
several  small  rivers.  The  telegraphic  cable  is  landed  on  the 
beach  at  the  point  above  described,  carried  in  a  trench  across 
the  ridge  of  the  beach  to  the  cable-house  on  the  Hummock; 
thence,  across  the  marsh,  to  the  Old  Cove,  and  from  there  to  the 
old  Bank  Building. 

It  is  impossible,  as  has  been  already  hinted,  to  enter  here  into 
a  minute  description  of  Duxbury,  or  to  give  the  details  of  its  his- 
tory, interesting  as  many  of  them  are.  No  place  has  had  more 
decidedly  original  and  peculiar  characters,  and  no  place,  perhaps, 
has  more  carefully  preserved  some  of  the  sturdy  virtues  of  the 
Pilgrims.  In  every  great  conflict  since  the  settlement  of  the 
country  it  has  borne  an  honorable,  and,  in  some  cases,  a  distin- 
guished part.  Thrilling  stories  of  the  daring  of  its  inhabitants 
during  the  revolutionary  war  are  yet  told.  Especially  by  sea, 
did  its  heroic  men  perform  marvellous  exploits,  and  illustrate 


>"' 


, 

1  I 

i  *     k        <*        ,    J ','','       ,     I      . 


the  courage  of  Massachusetts  sailors.     It  gave  to  the  first  war 
between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country  a  larger  proportion 
of  men  than  any  town  in  the  county,  with  perhaps  one  excep- 
tion; and,  as  late  as  1840,  there  were  nineteen 'surviving  heroes 
of  the  revolution  in  Duxbury,  whose  aggregate  age  was  1,025 
years,  and  the  average  over   78  years.*     To  the  war  for  the 
suppression  of  the  late  rebellion,  also,  it  contributed  its  full  share, 
and  kept  the  lineage  of  its  honor  unbroken.     Like  most  other 
towns  whose  inhabitants  are  chiefly  engaged  in  maritime  affairs, 
Duxbury  has  its  traditions  of  wonderful  adventure,  and  hair- 
breadth escapes,  as  well  as  its  fully  authenticated  records   of 
deeds  of  strange  daring  and  splendid  heroism ;  its  tales  of  the 
noble  courage  that  has  rescued  the  wrecked  mariner  whose  ship 
was  stranded  by  the  winter  storm;  of  the^skill  that  has  defied 
the  tempest  and  navigated  the  globe,  when  to  do  so  was  a  rare 
achievement;  its  stories,  too,  of  sadness,  which  cause  the  narra- 
tor's voice  to  tremble  when  he  tells  them  now ;  of  the  wanderer 
who  went  forth  and  returned  no  more  to  the  love  that  waited 
sadly    and    longingly    for    the  tidings    that    never   came;    of 
mysterious   losses;    of    ships    that   went   down   with   all    on 
board;  —  all  these  might  furnish  the  historian  of  Duxbury  with 
enough  to  make  his  narrative  exciting,  pathetic,  and  as  interest- 
ing as  the  dreams  of  romance.     Our  business  is  only  to  leave 
a  record  of  the  incidents  of  a  great  event  of  to-day,  which  has 
lifted  this  quiet  old  town  from  obscurity  to  notice,  and  which, 
we  believe,  may  help  bring  back  once  more  her  ancient  pros- 
perity. 

*  Wmsor's  History  of  Duxbury, 


THE  FRENCH  ATLANTIC  CABLE. 


WITH  the  history  of  the  magnificent  enterprise  of  organizing 
the  French  Atlantic  Telegraphic  Company,  and  its  successful 
accomplishment  of  the  laying  of  the  cable,  this  little  record  has, 
of  course,  nothing  to  do.  Duxbury  considered  itself  fortunate  in 
being  selected  as  the  point  of  landing,  and  desired  to  express 
its  satisfaction  thereat,  and  to  extend  its  welcome  to  those  who 
had  accomplished  the  important  work,  in  some  worthy  and 
appropriate  manner.  In  anticipation,  therefore,  of  the  arrival  of 
the  steamers  bringing  the  cable,  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  was 
held  in  Masonic  Hall,  on  Friday  evening,  July  16th,  at  which 
the  following  resolutions  were  presented,  and  unanimously 
adopted  : 

Whereas,  The  Town  of  Duxbury  has  been  selected  as  the  landing-place 
of  the  French  Atlantic  Cable,  which  is  expected  to  arrive  within  a  few 
days ;  and  whereas,  that  event  will  be  one  of  unusual  interest  in  the 
history  of  the  town,  as  well  as  of  national  and  world-wide  importance, 
we,  the  citizens  of  Duxbury,  deem  it  proper  to  show  our  appreciation  of 
its  magnitude,  by  celebrating  it  in  some  appropriate  public  manner,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  extending  the  welcome  and  hospitalities  of  the  town 
to  those  who  shall  have  so  successfully  accomplished  this  important  under- 
taking ;  therefore  it  is 

Resolved,  That  a  Committee  of  ten  be  appointed  by  this  meeting  with 
authority  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  for  the  successful  public 
celebration  of  this  event.  And  it  is  further 

fiesolved,  That  we  pledge  to  said  Committee,  acting  on  our  behalf,  our 
zealous  cooperation,  and  that  we  look  to  them  for  a  celebration  on  this 
occasion  worthy  the  ancient  renown  of  the  old  Pilgrim  town  of  Duxbury. 

In  accordance  with  the  above  resolutions,  a  Committee  was 
appointed,  who  immediately  entered  on  the  duties  assigned  them, 
and,  as  soon  as  possible,  issued  to  many  prominent  gentlemen, 
including  the  Governor  of  the  State,  the  Mayor  of  Boston,  and 


11 

others  eminent  in  the  various  walks  of  life,  the  following  invita- 
tion: 

FRENCH  ATLANTIC  CABLE. 

The  citizens  of  Duxbury  propose  to  celebrate  the  arrival  of  the 
French  Atlantic  Cable  on  the  sliores  of  Massachusetts,  and  to  extend  their 
welcome  to  the  officers  commanding  the  expedition,  by  a  public  festival,  to 
be  held  on  the  27th  instant. 

They  respectfully  solicit  the  honor  of  your  company  on  the  occasion. 

S.  N.  GIFFORD,  ALFRED  DREW, 

J.  S.  LORING,  WALTER  THOMPSON, 

ISAAC  KEENE,  JAMES  WILDE, 

C.  B.  THOMAS,  JONATHAN  FORD, 

ALLEN  PRIOR,  CALVIN  PRATT, 

Committee  of  Arrangements. 
DUXBURY,  July  20,  1869. 

THE   LANDING. 

Meanwhile  the  cable  fleet  which  left  St.  Pierre  on  the  18th  of 
July,  arrived  off  Duxbury  on  the  morning  of  Friday,  the  23d, 
and  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  "  Chiltern  "  with  the 
cable,  and  her  consort,  the  "  Scanderia,"  came  to  anchor  oppo- 
site Rouse's  Hummock,  about  half  a  mile  distant  from  the  shore. 
The  day  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  summer,  calm  and 
bright;  the  surface  of  the  ocean  was  unruffled,  save  by  a  light 
breeze,  which  only  served  to  give  an  air  of  life  and  gladness  to 
the  waters,  and  everything  in  nature  seemed  to  look  propitiously 
upon  the  great  work  about  to  be  completed.  The  moment  the 
ships  anchored  they  were  surrounded  by  smaller  craft  of  every 
description,  and  the  scene  became  at  once  animated  and  pictu- 
resque. 

Preparations  were  immediately  made  to  land  the  shore  end  of 
the  cable,  but  it  was  nearly  half  past  four  when  everything  was 
in  readiness  to  proceed  with  the  work.  The  huge  rope,  so  to 
speak,  —  the  shore  end  being  about  two  inches  in  diameter,  — 
had  been  pulled  up  from  the  tank  in  sufficient  quantity  to  reach 
the  cable-house  on  shore,  and  was  coiled  on  deck.  Two  large 
sea-boats  had  been  lowered  from  their  davits,  and  brought  up 


12 

alongside,  and  side  by  side  over  them,  after  they  had  been 
lashed  together,  were  spread  a  number  of  planks,  and  a  capa- 
cious platform  was  thus  soon  erected,  after  the  manner  of  a 
pontoon  bridge.  Upon  this  platform  the  cable  was  carefully 
lowered,  and  laid  out  in  a  very  broad  coil.  Another  large 
boat  was  attached,  and  fully  manned  by  sailors.  At  a  signal, 
the  barge  was  cut  loose,  and  the  tars,  bending  to  their  oars, 
moved  slowly  and  steadily  to  the  beach. 

Half  an  hour  was  thus  occupied,  and  the  crowd  on  shore, 
which  had  by  this  time  become  augmented  to  from  five  hundred 
to  one  thousand  persons,  watched  the  proceedings  w.ith  the  live- 
liest interest,  ever  and  anon  cheering  on  the  sailors  who  were 
soon  to  end  the  glorious  work.  It  was  not  many  minutes  from 
five  o'clock  when  the  boats  grated  on  the  beach,  and  the  sailors, 
seizing  the  end,  with  a  united  pull,  brought  the  terminus  to  dry 
Massachusetts  soil. 

Then  a  long,  loud  cheer  rent  the  air,  and  continued  along  the 
shore  as  far  as  the  crowd  extended,  and  an  artillery  salute  was 
fired  from  both  the  "  Chiltern  "  and  "  Scanderia."  There  was  a 
sudden  and  impetuous  rush  of  the  men  for  the  landing  point, 
while  the  ladies  clapped  their  hands  and  waved  their  handker- 
chiefs. Many  gentlemen  seized  hold  of  the  cable,  among 
whom  were  Collector  Russell,  of  Boston,  (who  with  others,  had 
come  down  in  the  school-ship  "  Geo.  M.  Barnard,")  and  Stephen 
N.  Gifford,  of  this  place,  Clerk  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate. 
An  hundred  hands  grasped  the  cable,  and  with  a  jolly  shout  from 
the  citizens,  and  many  cheerful  "  Pull  ahoys  ! "  from  the  sailors, 
the  end  was  run  up  the  beach  over  a  ridge  which  limits  the 
incursion  of  the  tides,  and  over  a  short  plateau,  to  the  cable 
house,  on  Rouse's  Hummock.  The  crowd  followed,  and  were 
highly  interested  spectators  of  every  inch  of  progress  made. 
When  the  heavy  work  had  been  finished,  and  the  assembly  real- 
ized that  at  last  the  Empire  of  France  and  the  Republic  of 
America  were  united  by  a  living,  pulsating  artery,  another  invol- 
untary shout  of  gladness  burst  from  every  mouth. 


^ 

, 


13 

Messrs.  Farley,  Clark  and  Jenkin  had  made  arrangements  at 
the  cable-house  for  testing  the  electrical  condition  of  the  cable, 
which  was  found  to  be  perfect,  and  signals  were  at  once  sent 
and  received  to  and  from  Brest,  at  the  rate  of  five  words  per 
minute. 

INCIDENTS. 

Just  before  the  cable  was  cut  on  board  ship,  the  signals  were 
strong  and  perfect,  and  several  messages  were  sent  and  received. 
Among  others  one  was  sent  to  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  announc- 
ing the  successful  termination  of  the  enterprise  j  and  Mr.  Varley, 
the  chief  electrician,  received  one  from  his  wife.  One  was  also 
received  announcing  the  rise  of  the  price  of  cable  shares  in 
Paris. 

As  soon  as  the  ships  had  anchored,  they  were  boarded  by  a 
number  of  gentlemen  from  Duxbury,  who  were  most  kindly 
received,  and  hospitably  entertained  by  the  officers  of  the  expe- 
dition. 

It  is  proper  to  state  here,  also,  that  the  City  Government  of 
Boston,  believing  that  the  important  event  should  not  pass 
unnoticed  by  the  authorities  of  a  city  whose  commercial  inter- 
ests will  be  so  much  and  so  favorably  affected  by  the  enterprise, 
appointed  a  committee  consisting  of  Aldermen  Benjamin  James, 
John  T.  Bradlee  and  Moses  Fairbanks,  and  Oouncilmen  William 
G.  Harris,  James  M.  Keith,  John  0.  Poor  and  George  P.  Denny, 
to  make  arrangements  for  proper  demonstrations  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  landing  of  the  cable.  On  the  day  succeeding  the 
arrival  of  the  steamers,  Mayor  Shurtleff,  in  company  with  the 
committee,  visited  Duxbury  and  tendered  their  cooperation,  in 
the  name  of  the  city,  in  celebrating  the  event ;  which  was  sub- 
sequently done  by  the  Mayor  on  the  following  Tuesday,  and  a 
salute  of  one  hundred  guns  was  fired  on  Boston  Common  by  his 
command,  and  the  national  colors  displayed  from  the  public 
buildings. 


14 


THE   CELEBRATION. 

Tuesday,  the  27th,  was  fixed  on  as  the  day  of  the  celebration, 
aud  preparations  for  that  occasion,  as  complete  and  extensive  as 
the  uncertainty  attending  the  arrival  of  the  cable,  and  the  brief 
period  intervening  between  that  event  and  it  would  permit,  were 
made.  On  the  morning  of  that  day,  the  sun  was  obscured  by 
clouds  and  the  weather  threatened  rain,  but  a  gentle  breeze  from 
the  southwest  dispelled  the  vapors,  and  at  noon  the  sky  was 
cloudless,  and  the  atmosphere  delightful.  The  town  was  alive 
with  excitement;  flags  were  displayed  in  every  direction,  and 
many  private  residences  were  decorated.  The  residence  of 
Mrs.  William  Ellison  was  adorned  with  exceeding  taste,  and 
attracted  much  attention.  Over  the  door  was  a  small  and 
elegant  triumphal  arch  formed  of  flags  and  streamers,  and  a 
second  triumphal  arch,  formed  of  two  lines  of  flags,  was  suspended 
from  the  trees  in  front  of  the  lawn.  Among  these,  the  flags  of 
America,  France,  and  England  were  gracefully  and  lovingly  in- 
tertwined,—  a  fitting  symbol  of  the  sentiments  of  peace  and 
good- will  which  the  electric  cord,  binding  together  the  three 
nations,  tends  to  fasten  and  cement. 

Among  the  distinguished  arrivals  by  the  morning  train  were 
Sir  James  Anderson,  Lord  Cecil,  Viscount  Parker,  Mayor  Shurt- 
leff,  Mons.  Birtsch,  a  distinguished  French  electrician ;  Judge  Rus- 
sell, Prof.  Pierce,  of  Harvard  College,  Mr.  Watson,  the  financial 
agent  of  the  Cable  Company,  and  many  others.  By  the  courtesy 
of  Governor  Claflin,  two  Parrott  pieces  of  a  section  of  the  Second 
Massachusetts  Light  Battery  were  sent  down,  and,  mounted  on 
the  summit  of  a  hill  near  the  scene  of  the  festivities,  at  intervals 
belched  forth  their  fire  and  smoke.  The  battery  consisted  of 
twenty-five  men,  under  command  of  Lieut.  C.  W.  Beal,  and  proved 
quite  an  accession  to  the  appliances  for  the  celebration. 

A  tent  for  the  banquet  had  been  erected  on  Abraham's  Hill, 
an  eminence  overlooking  the  beach,  the  Hummock,  the  track  of 
the  cable  across  the  marsh,  the  town,  the  bay,  and  a  part  of  Ply- 


15 

mouth.  Here  plates  were  laid  for  six  hundred  guests.  The 
flags  of  America,  France,  and  England,  adorned  the  summit  of 
the  tent,  and  waved  spiritedly  in  the  breeze.  By  noon  the  scene 
from  this  point  was  full  of  interest  and  animation.  In  the  first 
place,  as  has  been  intimated,  nature  herself  favored  the  occasion 
with  one  of  her  gayest  and  most  genial  aspects.  A  summer's 
sunbathed  the  landscape  in  brilliant  light;  a  refreshing  south- 
west breeze  woke  the  distant  waters  into  life  and  motion,  while 
an  azure  sky  overspread  the  ocean,  and  doubled  its  own  placid 
beauty  by  reflecting  its  deep  tints  in  that  mighty  mirror.  The 
blue  waters  contrasted  delightfully  with  the  green  plain  of  marsh 
which  spread  out  beneath,  while  a  gay  and  joyous  crowd  added 
to  the  beauty  of  natural  scenery  the  higher  attractions  of  genial 
human  converse  and  pleasant  laughter.  The  fresh,  pure  breeze 
that  came  rustling  from  the  bosom  of  the  sea  bore  an  exhilara- 
ting influence  on  its  wings,  which  stimulated  the  health  and  appe- 
tites of  all  present.  The  crowd  assembled  numbered  some  four 
or  five  thousand  people.  The  appearance  of  this  crowd,  as  it 
thickly  strewed  the  hill,  or  scattered  into  little  groups  under  the 
shade  of  the  trees,  was  exceedingly  animated  and  picturesque. 
For  the  creature  comforts  of  this  multitude  a  number  of  caterers 
had  erected  several  tents  in  which  were  dispensed  the  usual 
comestibles  common  to  such  occasions.  Among  the  spectators 
was  a  large  proportion  of  ladies,  who  redoubled  the  charm  of 
the  summer  sunshine  bv  the  smiles  and  graces  of  their  presence. 
A  detachment  of  State  constables,  under  the  command  of  Major 
Jones,  was  in  attendance  to  assist  in  preserving  order.  Their 
office,  however,  was  a  sinecure,  good  nature  and  civility  being 
the  order  of  the  day. 

THE     BANQUET. 

Shortly  after  two  o'clock  the  distinguished  guests  arrived,  and 
took  the  places  assigned  them  at  a  raised  table  on  the  side  of 
the  tent.  As  they  entered,  the  Plymouth  Band,  which  for  some 
time  had  entertained  the  vast  throng  with  some  excellent  music,  per- 


16 

formed  a  spirited  air,  whose  strains,  mingling  with  the  applause 
of  the  people,  were  expressive  of  a  most  enthusiastic  welcome. 

The  centre  of  the  table  was  occupied  by  Hon.  S.  N.  Gifford, 
the  President  of  the  day.  On  his  right  were  Sir  James  Ander- 
son, Hon.  N.  B.  Shurtleff,  Mayor  of  Boston,  Hon.  George  B. 
Loring,  Hon.  E.  S.  Tobey,  and  others;  and  on  his  left,  Lord 
Cecil,  Hon.  Thomas  Russell,  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Boston, 
Hon.  George  0.  Brastow,  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate, 
Mr.  Watson,  and  Mr.  R.  T.  Brown,  officers  of  the  Company, 
Prof.  Birtsch,  a  French  electrician,  Lieut.  Vetch,  of  the  Royal 
Engineers,  Hon.  James  Ritchie,  and  others.  Mr.  Gifford  called 
the  assembly  to  order,  and  stated  that,  as  they  had  assembled 
to  celebrate  the  achievement  of  a  great  enterprise,  it  was  fitting 
to  invoke  the  blessing  of  Him  under  whose  care  and  protection 
all  things  are  achieved. 

Rev.  Josiah  Moore,  of  Duxbury,  offered  prayer,  after  which 
nearly  an  hour  was  spent  in  partaking  of  the  food  with  which 
the  tables  were  laden. 

At  the  close  of  the  dinner,  Mr.  Gifford,  before  offering  the 
first  regular  toast  of  the  day,  spoke  as  follows : 

ADDRESS   OF  MR.   GIFFORD. 

Fellow  Citizens :  —  We  have  assembled  here  to-day  to  con- 
gratulate each  other  on  the  accomplishment  of  a  gigantic 
enterprise,  and  to  say  a  word  of  welcome  to  those  who  have 
been  mainly  instrumental  in  initiating  and  carrying  forward  to 
a  successful  close  this  last  great  work  of  the  age.  We  live  in 
an  age  of  wonders.  Man  seems  to  be  master  of  the  physical 
world.  Apparently  insuperable  obstacles  vanish  at  the  touch  of 
his  magic  skill. 

A  few  weeks  since,  thirty  days  were  required  to  reach  the 
Pacific  shores ;  to-day,  the  completion  of  that  wonderful  speci- 
men of  engineering  ability,  Yankee  pluck  and  perseverance,  the 
Pacific  Railroad,  places  us  in  a  week's  time  by  the  firesides  of 
our  friends  at  the  Golden  Gate.  To-day  we  meet  to  rejobe 


17     * 

over  the  landing  of  a  line  that  not  only  annihilates  the  space 
between  two  continents,  but,  at  the  same  time,  if  not  a  guaran- 
tee, is  at  least  an  earnest,  that  peace  and  good  will  shall  forever 
continue  between  us  and  the  mighty  nations  that  occupy  them. 
This  is  a  great  work,  a  great  step  in  the  advancing  march  of 
civilization,  great  for  us,  great  for  the  world. 

Let  us  then  give  to  our  friends  from  over  the  sea  a  hearty 
welcome,  a  welcome  that  will  convince  them  that  we  are  not 
only  glad  to  see  them,  but  that  we  appreciate  the  skill,  the 
energy,  and  the  persistent  determination,  that  have  originated, 
carried  on,  and  completed  this  great  enterprise. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Gifford's  remarks,  Mr.  0.  B.  Thomas, 
who  acted  as  toast-master  of  the  occasion,  read  the  first 
regular  toast : 

"  The  President  of  the  United  States." 

The  band  played  "  Hail  Columbia,"  and  Mr.  Gifford  called 
upon  Hon.  Thomas  Russell,  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Boston, 
who  responded  to  the  toast  substantially  as  follows : 

EEMARKS   OP   JUDGE   RUSSELL. 

It  seems  like  a  dream,  that  we  are  here  in  this  quiet  corner 
of  our  dear  old  colony,  to  rejoice  over  the  laying  of  the  cable 
which  connects  Rouse's  Hummock  with  the  habitable  globe. 

The  generous  applause  with  which  you  honor  the  President 
shows  me  that  I  am  awake  and  at  home.  I  am  sure  if  this  great 
man  were  here,  he  would  join  in  your  expressions  of  delight 
that  this  enterprise  is  happily  completed ;  that  such  an  addition 
has  been  made  to  the  commercial  facilities  of  the  nation  which 
he  worthily  represents  j  that  this  new  bond  of  peace  connects 
the  old  world  with  the  new.  I  feel  sure  he  will  be  glad  to  join 
with  Congress  in  securing  the  rights  of  this  enterprise  by  the 
impartial  laws  of  justice,  the  best  defence  of  commerce,  the 
highest  security  of  States,  the  true  foundation  of  international  law. 

It  came  suddenly  upon  us ;  we  feared,  if  I  may  say  so  in 


«      18 

Duxbury,  that  you  meant  to  bring  the  cable  in  clam  et  secreto.  It 
surprises  us  now,  although  it  is  not  the  first  Atlantic  telegraph  j 
but  it  is  a  wonder  still.  The  poet  said  of  his  lady : 

"  The  blood  within  her  veins  so  eloquently  wrought, 
That  you  might  almost  say  her  body  thought." 

And  when  we  see  these  arteries  of  life  —  let  me  rather  say  these 
nerves  of  sensation — spreading  over  the  earth  and  penetrating 
the  sea,  it  seems  to  our  fancy  that  the  great  globe  itself  has 
become  a  sentient  being  —  instinct  with  thought,  and  thrilling 
with  emotion. 

Since  Mary  Chiltern  landed  on  the  rock,  to  the  day  when  the 
Chiltern  and  her  consort  anchored  on  this  coast,  a  vast  series  of 
years  has  passed — a  vaster  series  of  events.  But  we,  children 
of  the  Old  Colony,  love  to  believe  that  all  we  celebrate  to-day 
was  there  in  the  hearts  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  —  the  triumph 
of  art  and  science,  of  which  this  is  the  crowning  glory,  the 
greater  triumph  yet  to  be. 

The  genius  of  Morse,  the  energy  of  the  Fields  —  we  will 
honor  them  whether  they  will  or  no  —  the  skill  and  persever- 
ance of  Sir  Samuel  Canning  and  Sir  James  Anderson,  whose 
knighthood,  of  enterprise  is  a  title  to  American  respect;  the 
guinea  stamp  of  rank,  the  pure  gold  of  manhood,  such  as  her 
Gracious  Majesty  loves  to  impress  with  that  stamp ;  the  grand 
achievements  of  the  great  man  in  whose  name  you  call  on  me  to 
respond,  and  of  the  people  whose  leader  he  is,  the  great 
thoughts  that  are  to  thrill  this  pulse  of  the  world  —  all  were 
decreed  when  the  free  spirit  of  the  old  world  sought  its  home  in 
the  new. 

Do  not  wonder  that  I  dwell  on  Pilgrim  memories. 

You  can  show  us  the  dwelling  of  Alden  j  the  Bible  which  he 
loved ;  the  house  of  Standish,  where  he  watched  the  little  em- 
pire of  which  he  was  the  guard,  and  looked  forward,  perhaps, 
to  the  greater  empire  which  he  helped  to  found ;  the  well  of 
which  Brewster  drank,  running  of  that  purer  well  of  which  all 


19 

were  to  be  free  to  drink,  and  here,  as  much  as  in  Plymouth,  we 
are  on  Pilgrim  soil. 

An  undeveloped  power  lay  hidden  in  the  gray  mass  of  wire 
coiled  in  the  Great  Eastern ;  soon  the  grave  men  of  the  May- 
flower were  engines  to  thrill  the  world. 

One  thought  more,  although  it  is  a  familiar  thought.  This  is 
a  victory  of  peace.  The  poet  says : 

" Mountains  interposed  make  enemies  of  nations; 
Lands  intersected  by  a  narrow  frith  abhor  each  other." 

But  our  railroads  level  the  mountains,  telegraphs  pierce  the 
seas,  and  all  nations  and  tongues  and  kindreds  are  made  neigh- 
bors. The  Emperor  of  France,  sitting  in  his  palace,  can,  by  an 
electric  spark,  fire  a  battery  on  these  shores. 

But  the  echo  which  we  shall  send  back  will  be  "  Peace  and 
Friendship." 

The  three  united  flags  of  three  great  nations  that  waved 
in  the  waters  of  the  bay  last  week,  and  which  now  adorn  this 
pavilion,  are  a  token  of  friendship,  and  may  it  last  till  all  the 
powers  of  the  earth  shall  be  united-States. 

The  second  regular  toast  was : 

"  The  State  of  Massachusetts." 

This  was  responded  to  with  the  "  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  by 
the  band,  and  Mr.  Gifford  then  said : 

I  see  present  with  us,  to-day,  a  gentleman  who  has  been  a  firm 
friend  to  this  company  from  the  start  —  a  gentleman  who  for 
two  successive  years  has  had  the  honor  to  preside  over  the 
higher  branch  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  being  President 
of  the  Senate  for  the  year  1868  and  a  part  of  the  term  for  1869 — 
a  man  who  stood  by  the  interests  of  this  company  when  there 
seemed  to  be  hardly  a  show  of  success,  and  when  every  member 
of  the  committee  was  opposed  to  the  granting  of  a  charter  to 
extend  a  welcome  and  meet  them  in  deep  water,  and  who 
rejoices  as  much  as  any  of  us  rejoiced  when  we  finally  succeeded 
in  accomplishing  the  purpose  we  had  in  view.  I  have  the  honor 


20 

to  introduce   to  you   the   Honorable    George   0.  Brastow,  of 
Somerville. 

Mr.  Brastow  was  warmly  received,  and  spoke  as  follows : 

SPEECH    OP   HON.    GEORGE   0.   BEASTOW. 

Mr.  President,  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  —  I  regret  exceed- 
ingly that  his  Excellency,  the  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  is 
not  present  on  this  occasion,  that  your  sentiment  might  be  more 
appropriately  responded  to.  Indeed,  I  should  not  have  been 
here,  friendly  as  I  have  been  to  this  great  enterprise  which  has 
now  achieved  such  wonderful  success,  had  I  not  expected  that  the 
governor,  or  some  other  member  of  the  State  government,  would 
have  been  here  to  respond  to  your  sentiment.  But,  sir,  in  his 
absence,  I  think  I  hazard  nothing  in  assuming  that  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  interposes  no  objec- 
tion to  the  landing  of  the  French  Atlantic  cable.  [Applause.] 
Other  than  that,  sir,  I  feel  that  the  heart  of  the  whole  people  of 
the  Commonwealth  beats  in  sympathy  with  your  own  people 
of  Duxbury  in  welcoming  the  distinguished  gentlemen  who  have 
been  so  foremost  and  so  successful  in  this  great  enterprise. 
The  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  as  you  have  said,* at  last 
rendered  every  aid  that  legislation  could  render,  and  granted 
the  facilities  that  were  asked  for.  The  allusion  made  by  Judge 
Russell  to  the  old  colony  and  primitive  times  reminded  me  of 
the  landing,  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  from  that 
little  ocean-tossed  barque  of  a  company  that  received  a  much 
colder  and  more  rigid  welcome,  and  from  another  race,  than 
that  now  bestowed  upon  our  distinguished  guests.  That  little 
barque,  tempest-tossed  for  mouths,  as  it  was,  landing  upon  this 
barren  shore,  brought  the  seeds  that  have  made  New  England 
what  she  is.  The  seeds  of  that  civilization  were  brought  from 
across  the  ocean.  What  we  welcome  to-day  is  one  of  the  highest 
evidences,  and  one  of  the  most  brilliant  results,  of  later  civiliza- 
tion and  later  science.  Mr.  President,  I  regret  exceedingly  that 
the  Governor  is  not  here  to  speak  for  the  whole  people  of  the 


21 

Commonwealth,  who,  I  can  assure  you,  rejoice  at  the  successful 
completion  of  the  work  which  you  to-day  are  celebrating. 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Brastow's  remarks,  Mr.  Gifford  read  the 
next  regular  toast,  which  was : 

"  The  Town  of  Duxbury :  Its  inhabitants,  the  descendants  of  Pilgrim 
heroes,  who  planted  on  this  very  shore  the  seeds  of  our  peculiar  and  noble 
American  civilization  —  perpetuating  the  names  of  Carver,  and  Brewster, 
of  Standish,  and  Bradford,  and  Winslow,  and  Alden,  —  attest  their 
unbroken  lineage  by  extending  an  enthusiastic  and  fraternal  welcome  to 
those  who  have  achieved  so  magnificent  an  enterprise  in  the  interest  of 
the  largest  material  prosperity,  and  on  behalf  of  the  unity  of  the  human 
race." 

The  band  immediately  struck  up  "  Yankee  Doodle,"  and  then 
the  toast  was  responded  to  by  Mr.  C.  B.  Thomas,  a  native  of 
Duxbury,  as  follows : 

SPEECH    OF    MR.    C.    B.    THOMAS. 

Mr.  President:  I  suppose  there  is  no  man  with  Duxbury  blood 
in  his  veins  who  does  not  rejoice  to  behold  this  day,  or  who  does 
not  realize,  in  some  degree,  the  magnitude  of  the  event  we  are 
assembled  to  commemorate.  Away  from  any  of  the  great  lines 
of  travel  and  traffic,  and  —  as  the  newspapers  have  taken  special 
pains  to  inform  the  public  during  the  past  week,  and  as  some  of 
you  have  learned  by  rough  experience,  perhaps  —  somewhat  dif- 
ficult of  access,  this  ancient  town  was  sinking  into  obscurity,  and 
some  would  have  us  believe  into  oblivion.  But  the  French 
Atlantic  Cable  has  found  us  out,  and,  in  some  sort,  glorified  us, 
and  to-day  there  is  not  a  place  of  its  size  on  the  American  con- 
tinent so  famous.  I  have  heard,  sir,  of  but  one  instance  of 
regret,  one  sigh  of  that  conservatism  which  always  dreads  a 
change,  one  expression  of  reluctance  that  this  bond  of  mystic 
power  is  to  unite  us  to  France.  One  man  there  is,  I  am  told, 
so  wedded  to  its  old  passive  and  waning  life,  that  he  doesn't 
•'  want  them  plaguey  Frenchmen  to  get  a  foothold  "  on  the  sacred 
soil  of  Duxbury.  For  my  own  part,  sir,  I  have  very  little  fear 
of  the  French  while  the  present  Napoleon  is  the  head  of  the 


22 

nation.  For,  animated  by  an  almost  boundless  ambition  to  per- 
petuate the  glory  of  his  name,  he  knows  that  the  surest  way  to 
do  so  is  to  glorify  France,  and  that  her  prosperity  can  only  come 
from  a  peace  which  shall  protect  and  foster  her  great  industrial 
interests ;  and  I  am  sure  that  he  has  little  disposition  to  trouble 
his  neighbors  needlessly,  especially  one  which  is  bound  to  him 
so  closely  as  we  are  now. 

We  have  assembled,  then,  without  shadow  on  our  spirits, 
to  welcome  and  congratulate  those  who  have  so  successfully 
achieved  this  great  enterprise  of  uniting  these  two  vast  conti- 
nents by  so  subtle  and  vital  a  tie.  Mr.  President,  it  is  really 
one  of  the  grandest  events  of  the  age,  one  whose  importance, 
estimated  by  its  possible  and  probable  results,  it  is  difficult  to 
overrate.  It  is  a  splendid  and  marvellous  triumph  of  energy, 
calling  to  its  aid  the  might  of  imperial  science.  To  think  that 
time  and  space  are  thus  annihilated  by  human  skill,  that  within 
the  hour  which  we  spend  together  here,  we  may  send  a  whisper 
across  the  wild  Atlantic,  defying  the  clamors  of  its  elemental 
strife,  and  regardless  of  its  gigantic  protests,  a  whisper  that 
might  be  a  message  dropped  into  the  heart  of  a  friend  three 
thousand  miles  away,  or  a  diplomatic  message  which,  in  an  "hour, 
might  convulse  the  world,  is  a  strange  and  startling  thought. 
It  is  a  fact,  which,  if  it  had  been  prophesied  to  those  who  first 
came  to  these  shores,  would  have  been  thought  as  improbable 
and  impossible  as  a  journey  to  the  moon.  Nay,  our  whole 
American  civilization  —  noble,  potent,  everywhere  advancing 
and  victorious  as  it  is  —  would  have  seemed  too  magnificent  a 
vision  to  be  realized  j  a  dream,  tinged  with  purple  light,  and 
rich  with  regal  harmonies,  and  yet  only  a  dream  j  too  improb- 
able to  be  an  inspiration.  Their  impulses  and  their  hopes  were 
not  bottomed  upon  earthly  things.  And  yet  to  their  diviner  in- 
spiration and  loftier  motives,  to  their  rugged  self-denial,  to  their 
unselfish  disregard  of  outward  earthly  attainment,  are  we  this 
day  indebted  for  all  that  America  is,  all  that  she  has  done  for 
the  world,  and  all  that  the  world  yet  hopes  from  her ;  indebted, 


23 

let  us  ever  remember,  for  that  supreme  glory  which  has  so  lately 
crowned  our  nationality,  at  once  with  the  winning  splendor  of 
the  martyr's  fidelity  and  the  coronet  of  the  victor. 

Mr.  President,  it  seems  to  me,  that,  apart  from  other  and  more 
important  considerations  which  led  to  the  selection  of  this  spot 
for  the  landing  of  the  transatlantic  cable,  there  are  some  minor 
incidental  facts  which  lend  a  touching  sanction  to  the  choice, 
investing  it  with  a  peculiar  appropriateness. 

And  first  of  all  is  the  simple  but  significant  fact  that  we  stand, 
to-day,  as  the  descendants  of  the  first  settlers  of  New  England, 
upon  genuine  Pilgrim  soil.  The  feet  of  heroes,  of  martyrs,  of 
saintly  warriors,  animated  with  the  courage  of  the  cross,  which 
no  danger  could  frighten  or  subdue,  have  pressed  it.  Their  tears 
have  watered  it.  On  this  very  air  have  their  prayers  and  songs 
of  unfaltering  praise,  alike  in  the  darkness  of  the  winter  storm 
and  the  sunlight  of  the  summer  harvest,  ascended.  This  mighty 
ocean,  which  we  have  so  conquered  that  only  a  second  of  time 
separates  us  from  the  old  world,  rolled  as  an  almost  impassable 
barrier  between  them  and  the  friends  they  had  left  in  the  old 
homes.  And,  as  we  meet  here  now  for  this  most  worthy  and 
fraternal  purpose,  we  can  well  fancy  their  voices  coming  out  of 
the  lengthening  shadows  of  the  past  to  breathe  a  benediction 
over  us.  This  is  historic  ground.  There  is  Plymouth  Rock, 
richer  in  elevating  and  kindling  associations  than  the  bloodiest 
battle  ground  upon  the  face  of  the  globe.  There  is  the  home  of 
Standish,  the  hero  whose  brave  life  the  genius  of  poetry  has 
taken  for  its  theme  and  its  inspiration.  There  is  Clarke's  Island, 
where  the  first  New  England  Sabbath  hymn  went  up  on  the 
wings  of  the  tempest, 

"  When  the  stars  heard  and  the  sea, 
And  the  sounding  aisles  of  the  dim  woods  rang 
With  the  anthem  of  the  free." 

And  there,  too,  are  the  graves  to  which  the  weak  and  the 
faithful  wearily  sank,  as  to  a  welcome  rest  opening  to  a  celestial 
glory  such  as  none  but  a  faith  like  theirs  could  picture. 


24 

And  it  is  subdued  and  chastened  by  the  spirit  which  appeals 
to  us  from  these  spots  that  we  stand  here  to  greet  this  last  and 
mightiest  achievement  of  the  19th  century.  Here,  where  the 
frail  seed  was  sown ;  here,  "  where  America  began  to  be,"  we 
gather  to  pluck  the  ripened  flower,  and  to  wonder  at  the  latest 
and  grandest  development  of  its  life. 

And  then,  too,  to  the  son  of  a  Duxbury  woman,  born  hard  by 
this  very  spot,  is  science  indebted  for  the  clearest  revelation, 
and  its  most  useful  knowledge,  of  the  strange  and  hidden  depths 
of  the  ocean. 

And  from  the  very  telegraphic  plateau  which  this  cable 
traverses  did  the  beautiful  contrivance  of  Lieutenant  Brooke  for 
deep-sea  sounding  bring  the  first  specimens  of  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean,  from  depths  of  more  than  two  miles. 

And,  once  more,  it  is  fitting  that  this  cable  should  land  on  a 
spot  familiar  to,  and  beloved  by,  and  associated  with,  the  man, 
who,  next  to  Washington,  has  done  more  than  any  other  to  give 
permanent  honor  and  dignity  and  renown  to  the  name  of  America 
among  the  nations  of  Europe.  For,  putting  aside  all  political 
and  local  prejudice,  and  looking  only  to  regal  intellectual  power, 
and  to  a  solid  literature  which  is  to  remain  as  one  of  the  chief 
pillars  on  which  the  dome  of  American  fame  and  glory  is  to  rest 
in  the  future,  I  think  that  Daniel  Webster,  take  him  through  and 
through,  must  be  regarded  as  the  Great  American. 

And  he  loved,  with  a  passionate  ardor  which  became  his  great 
nature,  this  sublime  old  ocean.  He  loved  this  beautiful  stretch 
of  beach  which  borders  it.  The  massive  and  solemn  tone  of  the 
sea  was  sacred  music  to  his  ears;  and  it  is  a  fortunate  circum- 
stance which  selected  a  spot  thus  associated  for  this  purpose. 

Standing  here,  then,  between  "  the  grave  of  Webster  and  the 
harbor  of  the  Pilgrims,"  in  the  name  of  the  American  people,  we 
extend  a  welcome  to  those  who  have  consummated  this  stupen- 
dous undertaking.  The  men  who  do  these  deeds  are  the  cham- 
pions of  civilization,  and  we  greet  them  with  a  cordial,  earnest, 
enthusiastic  "  God  speed." 


25 

When  Mr.  Thomas  had  concluded  his  address,  the  fourth 
regular  toast  was  announced : 

"  His  Imperial  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  France." 

In  response  to  which  "  Partant  pour  la  Syrie  "  was  played  by 
the  band;  and  three  cheers  were  given  for  the  Emperor. 

An  enthusiastic  gentleman,  seated  at  one  of  the  tables,  called 
out  at  this  point  for  three  cheers  for  General  Grant,  which  were 
heartily  given. 

The  next  regular  toast, 

"  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland," 

was  then  read.     This  was  responded  to  with  "  God  Save   the 
Queen  "  by  the  band,  and  three  cheers  by  the  company. 

"His  Majesty  Victor  Emmanuel,  King  of  Italy," 

was  the  next  toast,  and  Mr.  Day,  of  New  York,  was  called  upon 
to  respond. 

ADDRESS   OF  MR.    DAY. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  —  I  wish  there  were  an  Italian  here  to 
answer  your  kind  toast,  but  as  an  American  and  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  I  will  say  that  the  two  nations  have  the 
warmest  regard  for  each  other,  and  that  there  is  not  an  Italian 
from  the  Alps  to  Naples  who  does  not  rejoice  at  the  visit  of  an 
American  to  his  shores,  and  who  does  not  appreciate  our  sym- 
pathy and  admiration.  After  some  further  remarks  in  this  strain, 
the  speaker  said  that  he  took  pleasure  in  welcoming  those  of 
that  nation  who  were  present  as  his  friends.  It  was  well  said 
that  Duxbury  was  between  the  grave  of  Webster  and  Plymouth 
Rock.  This  speech,  though  quite  brief,  contained  many  excel- 
lent points  and  was  warmly  applauded. 

The  toast-master  then  gave : 

"  The  City  of  Boston:  among  the  first  to  welcome  all  measures  which 
assure  the  highest  civilization  of  the  world,  she  will  hail  with  joy  the  last 
of  all  the  grand  agencies  to  annihilate  time  and  space,  the  two  great  ol> 
stacles  in  the  progress  of  nations." 
4 


26 

His  Honor,  Mayor  Shurtleff,  of  Boston,  was  called  upon,  and  on 
rising  to  respond  apologized  for  detaining  the  company  a  few 
moments  as  he  had  just  been  informed  that  the  telegraphic  con- 
nection between  Duxbury  and  Boston  was  completed,  and  wait- 
ing for  a  communication  to  be  sent  to  the  city.  He  said  he  had 
sent  the  following : 

DUXBURY,  MASS.,  27  JULY,  1869,  > 
4  O'CLOCK,  P.  M.      $ 

To  the  Citizens  of  Boston :  Their  Mayor  representing  them  at  Duxbury 
sends  the  joyful  intelligence  that  pilgrim  Duxbury  is  now  united  to  their 
ancient  city  by  a  new  bond  of  union,  which  may  our  Heavenly  Father  grant 
to  be  one  for  the  good  of  us  all. 

Mayor  Shurtleff  then  spoke  as  follows : 

SPEECH   OF   MAYOR   SHURTLEFF. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  —  For  your  courtesy  to  the  city 
of  Boston,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  on  this  occasion, 
and  for  the  very  respectful  manner  in  which  the  sentiment  just 
expressed  has  been  received,  I  thank  you  sincerely  in  behalf  of 
its  citizens  and  municipal  authorities.  Boston  cannot  be  indiffer- 
ent to  the  success  of  the  great  enterprise,  the  accomplishment  of 
which  you  are  here  assembled  to  commemorate  in  a  most  honorable 
manner.  We  of  the  city  rejoice  with  you  in  this  memorable 
achievement.  We  hail  it  as  another  link  that  will  bind  us  in 
harmony  and  friendship  with  the  old  world,  and  multiply  our 
years  of  existence  by  the  almost  annihilation  of  time  and  space. 

Let  us  join  you,  then,  in  most  hearty  congratulations  for  the 
results  which  will  enure  to  you  and  to  all  of  us  in  consequence 
of  the  happy  completion  of  scientific  and  mechanical  labors  which, 
through  the  medium  of  your  ancient  town,  will  unite  the  interests 
and  welfare  of  our  new  world  to  that  which  gave  birth  to  our  fore- 
fathers more  than  two  and  a  half  centuries  ago.  Let  the  relations 
of  the  old  world  and  the  new,  now  so  close  in  thought  and  word, 
long  continue ;  and  may  this  union  of  continents  and  people  ad- 
vance civilization,  and  encourage  all  those  good  arts  and  acts  which 


27 

shall  insure  for  the  wide  world  a  future  of  universal  peace,  and 
a  repetition  of  millennial  periods,  everlasting  in  duration,  over 
regions  of  unbounded  space. 

When  I  cast  a  thought,  sir,  upon  what  is  now  going  on  in 
this  usually  most  quiet  of  all  places,  and  behold  all  the  merry- 
making and  pleasantries  of  the  day —  vividly  reminding  me  of 
the  gala  days  of  my  own  native  city  when  personal  liberty  was 
compatible  with  good  government  —  and  when  my  mind  reverts 
to  bygone  days,  when,  sir,  my  own  forefathers  were  the  guar- 
dians of  this  soil,  I  cannot  but  think  of  that  gallant  little  band 
of  pilgrims,  who,  leaving  the  land  of  their  birth  and  heritage^ 
sought,  in  the  most  inclement  season  of  the  year,  under  the 
severest  hardships,  a  home  upon  this  very  shore  —  that  here 
they  might  enjoy  the  greatest  of  all  earthly  privileges,  liberty  of 
conscience  and  the  right  to  worship  God  according  to  their 
own  belief  and  their  own  inward  dictates.  Can  I  forget,  sir, 
can  you  forget,  that  we  now  tread  upon  ground  which  they  have 
hallowed  ?  Here,  even  beneath  our  very  feet,  are  the  identical 
sods  upon  which  those  venerated  men  once  trod.  Beside 
these  hills  and  within  these  valleys  once  dwelt  the  patri- 
archs whose  names  are  now  our  household  words.  Need  I 
tell  you  that  here  once  lived  and  honestly  toiled  that  venerable 
man  of  God,  the  reverend  Brewster  ?  that  on  yonder  hill,  with 
the  first  Christianized  aboriginal  of  New  England,  the  valiant 
and  undaunted  Standish  had  his  abode  ?  that  dotted  around  us, 
were  once  the  habitations  of  those  useful  public  servants,  Collier 
and  the  Southworths,  and  that  gallant  (or  perhaps  I  should  say 
ungallant)  Alden,  the  cooper-boy,  who  circumvented  the  re- 
doubtable Captain  and  won  the  blushing  Priscilla  ?  You  may 
yet  feel  happy  in  the  remembrance  that  upon  yonder  green 
and  ever  pleasant  island  our  Pilgrim  forefathers  —  safely  escaped 
from  the  raging  billows  — first,  on  the  land  of  their  hopes  —  on 
the  land  of  liberty  —  worshipped,  unmolested  and  untrammeled, 
the  God  of  Israel,  the  God  of  their  fathers,  their  own  God;  and 


28 

there  spent  their  first  Christian  Sabbath  in  Pilgrim  New  Eng- 
land, giving  thanks  for  their  merciful  deliverance,  and  invoking 
the  blessings  of  their  Heavenly  Father  to  strengthen  their  resolu- 
tions, sustain  their  principles,  preserve  them  from  pestilence  and 
savage  beasts,  and  to  increase  and  multiply  them  as  a  Christian 
and  law  abiding  people. 

Could  time  permit,  sir,  I  would  ask  you  to  pass  with  me  over 
the  placid  waters  that  skirt  your  shores,  and  visit  for  a  moment 
that  once  peaceful  Saquish,  now,  indeed,  threatening  with  the 
appurtenances  of  war,  but  once  the  friendly  refuge  in  the  half- 
starving  days  of  the  needy  Pilgrims,  that  gave  the  first  nourish- 
ment to  our  perishing  fathers.  We  could  visit  with  the  eye, 
from  your  captain's  mount,  Old  Plymouth,  and  its  glorious 
remembrances,  the  Pilgrims'  Spring,  that  assuaged  the  thirst  of 
the  first  comers,  the  lofty  mound  where  first  aboriginal  accents 
kindly  welcomed  the  weary  pilgrim ;  the  sacred  hill  where  sleep 
so  many  of  the  fathers,  and  hills  and  valleys,  innumerable, 
where  once  the  fathers  worked  and  prayed,  and  nurtured  that 
spirit  of  freedom  which  has  secured  to  Americans  the  glorious 
privileges  we  of  the  present  day  claim  as  our  birthrights. 

And  now,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  closing  my  remarks,  let  .me  say 
that  the  important  event  which  you  are  now  commemorating 
should  not  pass  off  as  an  affair  of  to-day.  Let  the  .old  spirit  of 
indomitable  perseverance  that  brought  our  fathers  to  this  spot 
increase  the  exertions  of  your  people.  Let  them  rouse  their 
latent  energies  and  awaken  to  renewed  vigor  and  useful  thrift. 
Before  the  sounds  of  our  retreating  feet  are  heard  upon  your 
roads,  let  yours  be  loud  upon  your  hearth-stones;  and  there 
resolve  that  Duxbury  shall  once  again  be  the  borough  of  the 
leaders;  that  here  shall  be  wharves  and  warehouses,  railways, 
and  their  concomitant  enterprises  and  business.  And  then, 
happy  may  be  considered  the  day  that  the  great  French  cable, 
for  transatlantic  communication,  was  landed  and  securely  fas- 
tened upon  your  shores.  Then  will  prosperity,  thrift,  and  hap- 
piness be,  to  abide  with  you. 


29 

Before  taking  his  seat,  Mayor  Shurtleff  said :  When  I  came 
to  Duxbury  this  morning,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  being  taken  by 
my  most  excellent  friend,  Sir  James  Anderson,  to  Rouse's  Hum- 
mock. Here  I  found  this  message,  received  at  Duxbury  at  forty- 
six  minutes  past  nine  o'clock,  A.  M.,  from  the  other  side  of  the 
ocean : 

ST.  PIERRE,  27  July,  1869. 
Sir  William  Thompson  to  His  Excellency  the  Mayor  of  Boston  : 

I  have  the  honor  of  transmitting  to  you  the  following  telegram  received 
this  morning  from  Paris  : 

To  His  Excellency  the  Mayor  of  Boston,  America : 

The  Prefect  of  Paris,  rejoicing  in  this  happy  occasion  of  closer  union 
between  the  two  countries,  begs  that  the  Mayor  of  Boston  will  accept  his 
best  compliments  and  good  wishes." 

Deeming  that  my  good  friends  of  Boston  would  be  unwilling 
that  the  occasion  should  pass  without  an  answer,  I  immediately 
returned  the  following,  which  I  am  assured  has  been  sent : 

MESSAGE  OP   THE   MAYOR. 

DUXBURY,  MASS.,  27  JULY,  1869. 
To  His  Excellency  the  Prefect  of  Paris  : 

The  Mayor  of  Boston  sends  a  most  hearty  greeting.  May  the  new  bond 
of  union  between  the  continents  be  one  of  peace,  prosperity  and  amity, 
and  may  the  cities  of  the  Old  and  the  New  World  rejoice  in  mutual  con- 
gratulations on  the  great  scientific  accomplishment. 

The  next  regular  toast  was  then  read : 

"  The  French  Atlantic  Telegraph  Cable :  uniting  two  continents,  may 
it  be,  to  all  time,  only  a  medium  of  good  will,  and  the  promoter  of  an  inter- 
national peace  as  serene  and  undisturbed  as  that  of  the  still  ocean-deeps 
through  which  it  holds  its  course." 

Mr.  Gifford  introduced  Sir  James  Anderson  to  respond  to  this 
toast,  and  he  was  received  with  warm  applause,  and  heartily 
cheered. 

When  the  applause  had  subsided  he  addressed  the  assembled 
company  in  the  following  language : 


30 


. 

SPEECH    OF    SIR    JAMES   ANDERSON. 

Mr.  President  and  Ladies  and   Gentlemen  : — I  did  not  know 
when  I  came  into  this  tent  whether  I  should  be  asked  to  speak 
at  all.    I  may,  therefore,  very  probably,  forget  to  say,  or  omit  to 
say,  manytthings  that  I  ought  to  say  ;  and  I  am  afraid  I  may  say, 
perhaps,  some  things  which  I  ought  not  to  say.     It  is  not  often 
that  one  meets  so  many  natural  orators  at  a  meeting  of  any  kind, 
and  I  feel  I  am  quite  unequal  to  say  anything  so  eloquent  as  I 
have  heard  since  I  have  been  sitting  here.     But  it  has  been  my 
lot  to  be  connected  with  Atlantic  cables  since  they  have  been 
successfully  laid,  and  in  all  the  gatherings  I  have  seen,  I  have 
seen  nothing  like  this.  [Applause.]  It  would  be  a  very  cold  heart, 
and  a  very  weak  tongue,  that  did  not  feel  inclined  to  say  some- 
thing with  so  much  beauty,  so  much  cordiality  and  welcome  of 
every  kind,  in  such  a  scene,  and  with  such  unbounded  congratu- 
lations as  we  have  had  here  to-day.     I  would  think  very  little 
of  myself  if  I  could  not  say  something,  if  mot  eloquent,  at  least 
earnest  and  honest.     [Applause.]     I  know  very  well  that  I  must 
appear  at  the  present  time  to  be  standing  and  receiving  all  the 
honors  due  to  others.     I  have  no  claim  personally  whatever  to 
any  honor  for  the  executive  part  of  the  enterprise  just  completed. 
I  did  not  navigate  the  ship ;  I  did  not  lay  the  cable,     My  part, 
as  superintendent  in  behalf  of  the  shareholders  of  the  French 
company,  was  of  a  different  kind,  and  required  different  duties. 
I  am  extremely  sorry  that  my  colleagues,  Captain  Halpin,  and 
Sir  Samuel  Canning,  and  all  those  men  of  such  great  ability,  are 
not  here  to  see  and  know,  what  I  so  often  have  told  them,  that 
no  country  in  the  world  could  give  them,  or  would  give  them, 
such  a  welcome,  as  the  country, — or  State,  if  you  like, — of  Mas- 
sachusetts.    [Applause.] 

I  do  not  envy  the  heart  that  does  not  feel  some  romance,  and 
a  great  deal  of  poetry,  on  the  landing  of  a  cable  from  Europe 


31 

so  near  the  spot  where  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  landed.  When  I 
first  asked  my  friend,  Professor  Pierce,  a  year  ago,  where  I 
should  land  this  cable,  and  he  told  me  Duxbury  beach,  near  to 
Plymouth,  I  knew  the  history  of  the  whole  thing,  and  I  had  in 
my  mind's  eye  the  appearance  of  the  "  Mayflower  "  as  well  as 
any  man  in  Massachusetts,  or  in  Duxbury.  [Applause.]  I  know 
well  the  honored  names  that  have  been  mentioned  here  to-day, 
and  I  yield  to  no  one  in  my  respect  for  their  greatness,  and  for 
their  earnest  energy,  and  God-fearing  intellect,  that  brought  them 
from  a  land  crowded  with  political  oppression  to  a  land  where 
they  could  act  as  they  thought  proper,  and  could  overcome  any 
and  every  difficulty  that  the  God  they  loved  and  feared  might 
put  in  their  way.  [Applause.] 

J  did  not  forget,  and  I  felt  to-day,  when  the  reverend  gentle- 
man asked  the  blessing  on  this  meeting,  that  the  successful  cable 
of  1866  left  the  shores  of  Ireland  with  a  religious  ceremony, 
very  devoutly  carried  out,  and  that  it  would  be  very  strange  if 
New  England  had  received  this  cable  on  her  shores  without  a 
similar  expression  of  heartfelt  sincerity.  God  only  knows 
whether  electric  cables  will  be  a-  great  implement  in  war,  or  be 
a  great  instrument  in  the  cause  of  peace,  but,  at  all  events,  they 
have  become  a  great  fact,  and  I  would  be  forgetting  and  outrag- 
ing all  my  sense  of  justice  if  I  did  not  confess  honestly  here  that 
the  Atlantic  Cable  is  indebted  more  to  my  friend  Cyrus  W.  Field 
than  to  any  other  man  living.  [Applause.] 

No  man  knows  better  than  I  do  the  intense  energy  of  ray 
friend,  Mr.  Field ;  although  I  have  heard  rumors  since  I  landed 
on  these  shores  that  he  has  opposed  this  cable  in  many  and 
divers  ways.  I  would  think  it  strange  if  he  didn't.  Mr.  Field 
and  his  friends  have  embarked  large  sums  of  money  in  that  en- 
terprise, with  all  the  energy  natural  to  his  character,  and  will 
defend  the  enterprise  where  he  has  placed  his  money.  So  far  as 
honorable  opposition  goes,  we  should  not  regard  it  as  anything 
but  just,  because  we  would  do  the  same  thing.  [Laughter  and 


32 

applause.]  I  have  been  told,  also,  since  I  came  here,  that  there 
has  been  a  certain  amount  of  opposition  to  the  landing  of  this 
cable.  It  may  be  due  to  the  same  kind  of  enterprise ;  it  may  be 
due  to  Mr.  Field  and  his  colleagues,  but  I  don't  care  for  that.  I 
am  quite  sure  that  the  American  people  will  not  be  unjust;  I  am 
quite  sure  they  will  not  allow  any  one  to  inaugurate  an  enterprise, 
and  spend  a  million  of  money,  to  unite  the  two  great  continents 
together,  without  giving  them  at  least  fair  play.  [Applause  ] 
I  believe  it  would  be  weak  and  foolish,  on  our  part,  to  ask  for 
undue  sympathy  or  partiality.  If  we  cannot  work  as  well,  or 
faster,  we  have  no  right  to  your  support,  and  we  will  not  get  it, 
notwithstanding  whatever  sympathy  you  may  have. 

This  cable  is,  therefore,  laid  on  your  shore  as  purely  a  com- 
mercial enterprise  for  weal  or  woe.  Every  right  thinking  man 
and  woman  will  trust  it  may  be  a  great  promoter  and  great  sus- 
tainer  of  peace  throughout  the  whole  world,  and  of  civilization 
and  good  feeling.  God  forbid  that  it  ever  should  be  used  as  the 
fearful  weapon  of  war  which  it  may  become. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  have  nothing  to  say  for  myself.  You 
were  kind  enough  to  give  me  three  cheers ;  whatever  that  meant, 
1  thank  you  for  it.  I  am  an  old  hand  at  crossing  the  A-tlantic 
Ocean,  I  have  crossed  it  more  than  one  hundred  times,  and  I 
have  ever  felt  that  I  was,  betwixt  your  nation  and  mine,  some- 
thing of  an  ambassador,  seeking  to  carry  good  feeling  and  good 
fellowship,  and  I  am  proud  to  say  I  have  as  man^  friends  in 
America,  if  not  more,  than  I  have  in  my  own  country.  [Ap- 
plause.] It  is  a  matter  of  no  small  pride  to  me  that,  after 
having  for  twenty-eight  years  been  always  upon  the  ocean,  I 
have  at  last  drifted  into  this  singular  enterprise  of  laying  cables 
under  the  ocean,  until  we  can  now,  or  by  this  time  next  year,  we 
will,  in  all  human  probability,  be  able  to  communicate,  in  a  few 
hours,  and  in  an  ordinary  commerce  in  a  few  minutes,  all  the  way 
from  California  to  Calcutta.  These  are  great  times  j  the  rising 
generations  must  work  up  to  them,  and  doubtless  will.  I  am  quite 


33 

unequal  to  say  what  I  would  like  to  say,  and  in  the  manner  I 
would  like  to  say  it.  I  would  like  to  express  to  you  how  proud 
and  pleased  I  am  at  this  demonstration-— a  thousand  times  sur- 
passing anything  I  expected  to  see.  I  did  not  even  know,  until 
1  saw  in  the  papers,  that  this  celebration  was  to  take  place,  and 
by  some  chance  I  was  not  invited.  .1  did  not  hesitate  to  come, 
however,  yet  not  for  the  sake  of  making  a  speech;  but  I  hold  I 
would  a  be  poltroon  if  I  could  see  all  this  got  up  in  honor  of  an 
enterprise  in  which  I  had  a  small  share  at  least,  and  not  be 
warmed  up  to  tell  you  that  I  truly,  cordially,  and  earnestly  thank 
you.  [Applause.]  One  word  more,  gentlemen,  and  I  am  done. 
I  would  like  to  remind  you  again  that  I  am  returning  thanks  for 
gentlemen  who  had  the  real  responsible  charge  of  the  expedition, 
and  the  operation  of  laying  the  cable,  the  labor  of  which  was 
more  than  you  have  any  idea  of.  Mentally  weary,  they  have  gone 
away  to  Niagara  and  other  places  to  refresh  themselves  during 
the  week  before  they  leave  for  home.  That  they  are  not  here 
to  thank  you,  I  am  very  sorry,  because  they  would  then  know 
something  I  know  of  Americans,  — *  of  the  great  hospitality 
and  unbounded  generosity  which  I  have  always  met.  I  am  sure 
they  would  be  very  glad  to  thank  you  earnestly  as  I  do.  In 
their  name,  and  in  my  own,  I  give  you  hearty  thanks.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

The  next  toast  proposed  was : 

"  The  Boston  Board  of  Trade:  the  representative  of  Commerce,  in  all 
ages  the  pioneer  of  a  richer  civilization,  it  has,  in  the  electric  telegraph, 
its  most  potent  and  cunning  ally." 


SPEECH   OF    HON.    EDWARD    S.    TOBEY. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  —  I  regret,  not  less  on 
my  own  account  than  on  yours,  that  the  distinguished  President 
of  the  "  Boston  Board  of  Trade  "  is  not  here  to  respond  to  the 
appropriate  sentiment  by  which  the  name  of  that  institution  has 

5 


34 

been  connected  with  the  interesting  event  which  has  brought  us 
together. 

If  I  were  to  take  counsel  of  my  judgment  only,  my  remarks 
would  be  very  brief;  but  the  presence  of  so  many  faces  familiar 
to  me  in  youth,  prompts  me  rather  to  follow  the  impulses  of  my 
heart  in  performing  the  duty  which  has  been  assigned  to  me  by 
your  kind  invitation.  The  memory  of  the  honored  dead  who 
were  natives  of  this  town,  with  whom  in  the  past  it  was  my 
privilege  to  be  associated, — the  fact  that  here  in  my  youth  some 
of  my  happiest  and  most  permanent  associations  have  been 
formed, — conspire  to  deepen  my  emotions  on  this  auspicious 
occasion,  and  to  place  me  in  most  cordial  sympathy  with  the 
feelings  which  animate  you  in  celebrating  the  event  of  to-day. 

The  traditional  history  of  this  ancient  town  shows  that  it  was 
once  foremost,  not  only  in  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, but  of  the  United  States.  To  speak  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  numerous  first-class  ships  which  have  been  built 
here,  would  be  to  recall  the  names  of  the  best  mechanics  and 
skilled  artisans  of  the  whole  country. 

To  speak  of  the  men  who  commanded  those  ships,  would 
be  to  make  honorable  mention  of  intelligent  and  eminent  navi- 
gators, who,  with  the  flag  of  the  Republic  at  the  mast-head, 
guided  their  ships  into  nearly  every  commercial  port  of  the 
habitable  globe.  The  landing  of  this  telegraphic  cable  is  of  no 
mere  local  importance ;  and  while  it  must  give  a  historic  promi- 
nence to  Duxbury,  and,  we  may  hope,  also  a  new  impulse  to  her 
varied  interests,  it  is  to  be  regarded  chiefly  as  an  international 
enterprise,  and  as  a  new  bond  of  sympathy  and  of  common  inte- 
rest between  our  early  ally  and  the  United  States.  In  carrying 
forward  this  great  work,  American  and  foreign  capital  and 
enterprise  have  been  united,  so  that  it  literally  belongs  not  to 
one  nation  alone.  Would  that  a  similar  spirit  of  enterprise  and 
employment  of  capital  on  the  part  of  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  under  the  fostering  policy  of  the  government,  would  now 


35 

restore  the  ocean  commerce  of  the  country  under  the  American 
flag  to  its  once  prosperous  condition. 

The  representatives  of  foreign  nations  now  present,  will,  I  am 
sure,  pardon  my  American  feeling  when  I  state  that  the  Ameri- 
can flag  does  not  wave  over  a  solitary  steamship  which  crosses  the 
Atlantic. 

This  fact,  humiliating  as  it  is  and  ought  to  be  to  our  national 
pride,  is  one  to  which  I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  whole 
country.  Of  more  than  seventy  steamships  which  now  ply 
between  New  York  and  Europe,  not  one  is  the  product  of 
American  skill  and  industry.  If  I  am  asked  to  account  for  this 
extraordinary  fact,  let  me  say  that  it  is  mainly  to  be  attributed 
to  the  unfortunate  and  unwise  policy  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  and  not  to  a  want  of  enterprise  on  the  part  of 
her  citizens.  The  time  has  been  when  the  flag  of  this  country 
was  carried  by  her  "  merchant  ships,"  in  successful  competition 
with  those  of  every  commercial  nation.  The  war  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Union  and  the  life  of  the  government,  appealing 
to  every  energy  of  the  people,  has  so  entirely  absorbed  the  public 
mind  and  the  persons  who  represented  it  in  Congress,  that  the 
great  shipping  and  navigating  interests  of  the  country  have  been 
sadly  neglected  —  an  interest,  whose  importance  in  a  national 
point  of  view,  can  scarcely  be  estimated. 

England  has  sagaciously  taken  possession  of  a  large  part  of 
the  trade  on  the  North  Atlantic  by  her  efficient  and  successful 
steamships.  France  has  shrewdly  followed  her  example  by 
granting  mail  subsidies  on  a  scale  of  liberality  equalled  only  by 
her  great  naval  and  commercial  rival.  Why  should  not  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  at  once  adopt  the  same  stimu- 
lating policy,  by  the  remission  of  duties,  and  taxes  on  cost  of 
construction,  and  by  mail  subsidies,  and  thereby  bring  into 
existence  a  fleet  of  steamships  for  ocean  service  worthy  of  her 
skilful  mechanics,  her  enterprising  merchants  and  seamen,  and 
regain  her  once  proud  position  as  a  first-class  naval  and  com- 
mercial power? 


36 

It  has  often  been  assumed  that  the  people  of  the  West  are 
wholly  indifferent  to  the  existence  and  development  of  ocean 
commerce  under  the  American  flag  by  the  influence  of  liberal 
legislation.  In  my  intercourse  with  them,  whether  in  Com- 
mercial  Conventions.  Boards  of  Trade,  or  in  Washington,  I  have 
ever  found  them  friendly  to  the  measures  necessary  to  restore 
the  flag  of  their  country  to  its  proper  relative  place  on  the  ocean, 
and  why  should  they  not  favor  this  great  national  interest  when 
their  own  local  interests  have  been  so  largely  and  rapidly  pro- 
moted by  enormous  land  grants  and  pecuniary  aid  which  have 
brought  into  existence  a  trans-continental  railway,  while  its  pro- 
jected branches  and  rivals  will  doubtless  yet  draw  to  them  the 
further  liberal  aid  of  government  ? 

Does  it  become  America  to  pay  to  foreign  nations  annually 
from  twenty  to  thirty  millions  of  dollars  in  gold  for  the  trans- 
portation of  merchandise  and  passengers  which  might  and  ought 
to  be  carried  in  her  own  steamships  ?  Would  it  not  be  wiser  to 
pay  at  least  a  part  of  the  money  expended  for  ocean  postal  ser- 
vice for  the  transportation  of  mails  by  steamers  to  be  ccmstructed, 
owned  and  navigated  by  her  own  citizens?  At  the  beginning 
of  the  late  war  there  were  only  three  vessels  of  the  American 
navy  at  hand  to  defend  our  harbors  and  coasts.  The  merchant- 
men were  then  called  on  to  blockade  a  coast  of  two  thousand 
miles  and  to  reinforce  her  navy  at  different  periods  during  the 
war  by  tens  of  thousands  of  seamen  drawn  from  the  merchant 
service.  Thus  evidently  dependent  on  the  mercantile  marine  in 
emergencies,  how  can  the  United  States  maintain  her  position  as 
a  first-class  maritime  and  naval  power  without  pursuing  as 
liberal  a  policy  towards  her  shipping  interests  as  England  and 
France  have  respectively  adopttd  towards  theirs  ?  The  influ- 
ence of  the  electric  telegraph  and  of  steam  is  rapidly  bringing 
the  people  of  all  nations  into  more  intimate  relations.  A  com- 
bination of  circumstances  is  conspiring  to  cause  an  ever  increas- 
ing and  vast  immigration  to  our  shores,  and  to  develop  the  varied 


37 

and  almost  inexhaustible  resources  of  our  country.  This  must 
be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  potent  agencies  in  promoting 
the  commerce  of  the  world  and  of  advancing  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. 

Let  us  therefore  welcome  the  people  of  all  nations  here,  encour- 
aged by  the  fact  that,  in  leaving  their  native  land,  they  leave  also 
the  flag  of  their  nation,  content,  and  even  desirous,  to  accept 
American  citizenship,  under  a  pledge  of  loyalty  to  the  ensign  of 
the  Republic,  that  truest  symbol  of  human  rights  and  of  popular 
sovereignty,  transcended  only  by  that  still  more  sublime  emblem, 
the  banner  of  the  cross,  on  whose  ample  folds  shall  ever  be 
inscribed  the  soul-inspiring  sentiment,  "  By  this  we  conquer." 

Mr.  Thomas  then  read  the  following  toast,  which  had  been 
handed  to  him  by  a  lady  eighty-six  years  of  age,  the  widow  of 
the  late  Deacon  George  Loring,  one  of  the  most  respected  citi- 
zens of  Duxbury.  It  was  in  Mrs.  Loring's  own  hand-writing, 
and,  as  a  specimen  of  penmanship,  might,  Mr.  Thomas  said,  rival 
the  chirography  of  most  young  ladies  of  eighteen : 

"  In  memory  of  the  past  generation  of  ship-masters  and  ship-builders : 
May  the  electric  spark  now  kindled  so  animate  the  coming  generation  that 
it  may  worthily  fill  the  places  of  the  past,  is  the  wish  of  an  *  Old  settler.' " 

Mr.  Gifibrd  called  upon  Dr.  George  B.  Loring  to  respond. 

SPEECH  OF  HON.  GEORGE  B.  LORING. 

Mr.  President,  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  —  When  the  mariner 
has  been  tossed  for  many  days  on  an  unknown  sea  and  in  thick 
weather,  he  avails  himself  of  the  first  lull  in  the  storm,  the  break 
in  the  cloud,  and  turns  to  the  first  glance  of  the  sun,  that  he  may 
take  a  new  observation,  and  ascertain,  if  possible,  where  on  the 
earth's  surface  himself  and  his  ship  may  be.  I  call  for  the 
reading  of  the  resolution  — "  The  memory  of  the  past  gene- 
ration of  ship-masters  and  ship-builders  of  old  Duxbury."  We 
are  at  last,  thank  God,  at  home  once.  more.  We  tread  the  dear 


38 

old  native  soil.  We  are  called  to  the  association  of  those 
whom  we  have  known  and  loved,  and  seen  face  to  face.  I  have 
followed  the  distinguished  gentlemen  who  have  preceded  me  — 
have  been  carried  back  to  the  days  of  the  Pilgrims  —  have  lis- 
tened to  the  policies  of  States ;  have  heard  how,  a  half  century 
before  Christ,  submarine  labors  were  performed  beneath  the 
waters  of  the  old  Italian  rivers  j  have  been  borne  to  the  ends  of 
the  world  on  the  wings  of  commerce  —  and  now  I  come  back 
with  you  to  this  spot,  with  all  its  memories  and  charming  asso- 
ciations. 

I  congratulate  myself  that  I  have  been  allowed  to  respond  to 
the  toast  offered  by  the  venerable  lady  of  this  town,  with  whom 
my  relations  are  so  intimate,  and  whose  virtues  adorn  the  home 
which  some  of  us  have  loved  so  well.  "  The  old  ship-masters  an  I 
ship-builders  of  Duxbury!"  What  memories  do  their  names 
awaken  !  Their  lives  form  a  part  of  that  history  of  this  town, 
which  makes  it  a  remarkable  illustration  of  the  advancement  and 
progress  for  which  this  age  is  distinguished.  They  gave  Dux- 
bury  a  name  in  all  the  great  markets  of  the  world,  and  made  it 
a  familiar  household  word  in  Antwerp,  and  Hamburg,  and  Liver- 
pool, and  London,  long  ago,  in  the  vigorous  periods  of  commerce, 
and  when  the  names  of  the  Giffords  and  Thomases,  who  clothe 
it  with  modern  renown,  were  yet  unknown.  Forty  years  ago, 
sir,  I  was  led  along  that  beach,  now  so  famous,  a  mere  child, 
listening  to  the  words  of  these  very  men,  who  are  now  gone.  I 
shall  never  forget  them.  From  that  day  to  this  has  gone  with 
me  the  memory  of  George  Loring,  the  firm  and  honest  and 
reliable  Puritan,  bearing  in  his  veins  the  blood  of  John  Alden, 
and  presenting  in  his  daily  life  an  example  of  integrity  and 
wisdom  which  we  all  might  follow  —  the  companion  through  life 
of  her  who  offered  this  sentiment  —  and  the  fast  fraternal  friend 
of  him  who  led  me  through  the  early  days  of  childhood  and 
youth.  I  ought  not  to  forget  the  name  of  George  Loring  while 
I  live.  And  who  need  be  reminded  here  of  the  Sampsons,  that 


39 

stalwart  race  whose  axes  swung  the  brightest  and  sharpest,  and 
whose  hammers,  as  they  drove  the  treenails,  wakened  me  at 
dawn,  even  in  the  long  summer  days.  Can  we  ever  forget  the 
name  of  Frazer,  whose  virtues  have  fallen  upon  at  least  one  of 
those  worthy  sons  of  Duxbury  now  before  me  ?  And  the  Smiths, 
and  Drews,  and  Soules,  and  Westons  —  a  long  list  of  enterpris- 
ing and  honorable  men,  who  gave  this  town  its  wealth  and  dis- 
tinction in  early  days,  and  whose  service  has  now  fallen  upon 
many  now  before  me  —  many  who  perpetuate  their  names  and 
inherit  their  good  qualities  —  shall  not  all  these  be  remembered 
while  Duxbury  —  Duxbury  of  old,  and  the  new  and  regenerated 
Duxbur}',  shall  stand  ? 

The  old  ships  may  be  gone;  the  "  Cherokee,"  the"  Choctaw," 
the  "  Susan  Drew,"  models  in  their  day  of  the  best  naval 
architecture,  may  have  perished ;  but  the  good  name  of  their 
builders  and  masters  still  remains,  and  will  remain  so  long  as  the 
commercial  world  shall  set  high  value  on  solid  ships  and  honest 
merchants.  These  were  the  men  who  walked  with  me  on  the 
beach,  and  these  are  their  ships.  The  manners  and  customs  of 
the  olden  time  were  theirs  still.  The  venerable  form  of  John 
Allyn,  the  old  divine,  stern  and  incorruptible,  with  his  silk 
stockings  and  small  clothes  and  shoe  buckles,  stands  there  in  the 
group,  with  his  hands  pressed  upon  my  head,  asking,  in  tones  of 
thunder,  a  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  this  boy  ?  "  —  while 
the  sands  of  the  beach  seemed  opening  beneath  my  feet,  and  the 
awful  weight  of  an  old  theological  verdict  seemed  to  crush  me 
to  the  earth.  But  now  comes  the  modern  picture.  "May 
the  electric  spark  now  kindled  so  animate  the  coming  generation 
that  it  may  worthily  fill  the  places  of  the  past."  That  energy 
which  once  gave  Duxbury  its  renown,  and  which  has  slumbered 
so  long,  has  now  a  newly  opening  field  of  labor.  All  the  modern 
achievements  in  art,  and  science  and  literature  and  life  are  now 
before  them.  Their  little  quiet  town  has  sprung  by  sudden  impulse 
into  new  life.  Through  it  now  throbs  one  of  the  arteries  of  a 


40 

busy  and  toiling,  and  vigorous  and  progressive  world.  It  is  the 
portal  through  which,  in  an  instant,  the  thought  of  the  great 
empire  is  transmitted.  May  it  be  a  portal  of  peace.  There 
now  appear  before  us  the  three  great  powers  of  the  world  — 
France,  England,  and  the  United  States  —  bound  together  in  a 
common  service,  and  one  of  the  bonds  is  here.  This  triple 
alliance  may  accomplish  much  if  made  for  a  common  purpose  — 
the  growth  and  advancement  of  the  highest  civilization. 
Dissimilar  in  many  characteristics,  they  may  learn  of  each  other 
how  to  live.  The  lesson  of  free  government  in  all  its  vitality, 
the  United  States  are  daily  teaching. 

From  France  we  may  learn  how  an  industrious  people  may 
cultivate  all  the  arts  of  life,  develop  the  finest  tastes,  avoid  the 
dangerous  extravagances  of  modern  days,  and  study  the  practi- 
cal economies  which  add  so  much  to  the  domestic  comforts,  and 
to  public  prosperity.  To  England  we  may  turn,  in  these  later 
days,  for  our  lesson  in  the  genius  of  progressive  statemanship, 
and  learn  from  the  philosophy  of  Stuart  Mill  what  manhood  suf- 
frage really  means,  from  John  Bright  the  sagacity  of  a  large- 
minded  publicist,  and  from  Gladstone  how  the  policy  of  a  great 
empire  should  accommodate  itself  to  the  popular  wants  and  de- 
mands. In  the  great  civilizing  work,  let  these  nations  stand 
together,  the  great  tripod  on  which  advancing  civilization  may 
rest.  That  our  companions  in  this  association  will  respect  our 
endeavors  to  preserve  the  perpetuity  and  strength  of  our  govern- 
ment hereafter,  I  cannot  for  a  moment  doubt.  Let  us  have, 
then,  an  honorable  peace,  founded  on  mutual  respect  for  each 
other,  and  a  determination  to  be  guided  by  strict  justice  in  all 
our  intercourse ;  and  as  time  goes  on,  when  the  three  Pacific 
Railroads  predicted  by  Mr.  Seward  shall  be  completed,  and  my 
friend,  Sir  James  Anderson,  shall  have  laid  all  his  ocean  tele- 
graph cables,  Sir  James  will  pardon  me,  if  I  predict  that  New 
York  will  become  the  centre  of  the  exchange  of  the  world,  and 
London  will  be  tributary  to  New  York.  This  is  not  too  much 


41 

to  anticipate.  It  is  not  too  much  to  promise  the  "  coming  gene- 
ration "  of  Duxbury  boys,  who  are  to  make  good  the  memories 
of  their  sires. 

Mr.  Gifford  then  said  that"  a  motion  had  been  made  that,  when 
the  meeting  adjourned,  it  be  to  meet  at  the  call  of  the  first 
whistle  of  the  first  locomotive  that  came  into  Duxbury,  and  he 
called  upon  the  Hon.  James  Ritchie  to  speak  to  that  motion, 
which  he  did  in  a  very  happy  manner,  expressing  the  hope  that 
the  time  was  not  far  distant  when  that  whistle  would  be  heard. 

The  next  toast  was : 

"  The  Ladies," 
which  was  briefly  responded  to  by  Lord  Sackville  Cecil. 

RESPONSE  OP  LORD  CECIL. 

Mr.  President ,  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  —  You  have  heard 
the  request  made  to  me  to  respond  to  this  toast.  I  am  sure  you 
will  join  with  me  in  thanking  the  ladies  who  have  provided  for  the 
company,  for  their  kindness,  and  for  honoring  this  occasion  with 
their  presence.  I  am  a  young  man,  inexperienced,  and  not  used 
to  speaking,  and  I  may  not  say  more.  I  trust  that  this  may  be 
a  sufficient  excuse.  Allow  me,  in  sitting  down,  to  express  the 
respect  I  feel  for  the  ladies.  [Loud  applause.] 

The  next  toast  was : 

"  Science:  with  imperial  thought  and  invincible  power  it  subdues  the 
wildest  and  most  fearful  elements  of  nature,  and  binds  them  to  the  service 
of  humanity. 

Hon.  Charles  Levi  Woodbury  was  called  upon  to  respond. 
He  said : 

REMARKS  OP  HON.  C.  LEVI  WOODBURY. 

When  I  stood  upon  the  shore  on  Friday  afternoon  and  saw 
the  systematic,  quiet  and  business  way  in  which  the  cable  was 
landed  from  the  steamers,  and  connected  at  the  house  with  its 

6 


42 


appropriate  motors  and  instruments,  I  was  impressed  that 
latest  wonder  of  the  world  had  already  passed  from  the  thauma- 
turgic  class  into  the  practical  and  ordinary  business  of  life.  It 
was  my  fortune  to  see,  at  Washington  in  1837-8,  at  the  capitol, 
Professor  Morse  make  the  first  public  exhibition  of  his  telegraph. 
I  recall  it  as  though  it  were  yesterday.  Two  reels  of  insulated 
wire,  resembling  bonnet  wire,  and  each  said  to  contain  three 
miles  in  length,  an  old  clumsy  trough  battery,  where  the  acid 
was  turned  on  and  off  every  few  minutes,  —  his  leaden  type  cast 
for  the  forms  which  his  signals  have  always  had,  a  port  rule  of 
two  feet  in  length  in  which  to  set  them  up,  his  recording  appa- 
ratus and  a  folio  copy  of  Webster's  dictionary,  with  every  word 
numbered  in  red  ink.  I  think  I  can  see  it  all  before  me  now. 
There  was  no  business  electric  telegraph  in  the  world  then.  It 
was  not  till  1844  that  Morse's  own  was  practically  set  up. 
Suggestions,  glimmerings,  of  an  electric  telegraph  and  partial 
experiments  had  preceded  this  epoch,  but  the  thought  needed  a 
devotee  whose  inspiration  should  serve  as  a  constant  battery  to 
his  energy,  and  for  this  it  had  waited  almost  a  century,  growing 
slowly,  but  not  ready  for  a  practical  career.  •  "•*  ••••• 

Let  me  briefly  go  back  into  the  history  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years  ago,  or  thereabouts.  A  man  who  had  the  fortune 
to  be  a  Boston  boy  and  an  Englishman  —  one  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin —  was  experimenting  to  ascertain  whether  lightning  and 
frictional  electricity  were  identical.  He  had  already  invented 
his  conducting  lightning  rods  of  metal,  and  he  now  attached  to 
the  rod  on  his  own  house  some  bells  to  be  operated  by  a  gal- 
vanometer, whenever  the  fluid  should  pass  down  the  rod,  giving 
directions  to  his  family  that  if  the  bells  should  ring  in  his 
absence,  they  should  take  some  Leyden  jars,  and  charge  them 
at  the  rod,  for  his  inspection  on  his  return. 

In  time,  a  cloud  passed  over,  the  bells  did  ring  ;  their  call 
was  obeyed,  the  jars  charged,  and  the  identity  of  the  two  fluids 
soon  established.  This  was  the  first  telegraph  communicating 


43 

intelligence  by  pre-arranged  signal  through  the  motive  force  of 
electricity.     It  was,  in  fact,  a  sound  telegraph. 

A  few  years  after,  he  insulated  a  wire  on  the  draw-rope  at 
the  ferry,  on  the  Schuylkill,  and  sent  his  electric  spark  across 
the  river,  using  the  water,  as  he  thought,  as  the  conductor,  and 
the  wire  completing  the  circuit ;  with  this  he  set  fire  to  spirits 
of  wine  across  the  river. 

Here  are  the  germs  of  this  great  practical,  world- wide  system 
of  telegraphing  we  are  now  celebrating ;  and  yet  Dr.  Franklin, 
although  actually  making  and  using  an  electric  telegraph,  never 
conceived  the  idea  of  applying  the  thought  to  the  business  pur- 
poses of  the  world. 

In  France,  in  1787,  the  traveller,  Arthur  Young,  saw  in  use 
at  the  Hotel  des  Invalides,  the  first  known  electric  telegraph  for 
actual  correspondence  between  individuals,  but  still  as  a  mere 
ingenious  toy. 

It  is  not  disparagement  to  omit  mention  of  the  names  of  the 
ingenious  men  here  and  in  Europe  who  have  added  by  valuable 
suggestions  and  experiments  to  the  progress  of  that  now  well 
defined  thought,  a  business  electric  telegraph,  one  of  whom  I 
see  before  me  (Dr.  Jackson).  The  mechanism  for  handling, 
and  the  laws  of  the  motor,  were  themselves  to  be  ascertained 
before  the  application  could  become  practical.  Galvani  and 
Yolta  found  the  best  motor:  so  much  for  Italy.  Denmark 
through  Oersted,  gave  electro-magnetism;  France,  through 
Ampere  and  Arago,  gave  the  electro-magnet;  England,  through 
Daniel  and  Grove,  found  the  constant  battery  without  which 
galvanic  telegraphing  would  have  remained  a  toy  until  to-day. 
America  gave  the  insulation  and  suspension  on  poles  for  land 
telegraphs  through  Dyar,  and  had  explored,,  through  Professor 
Henry,  the  mechanical  power  electro-magnetism  could  exercise 
at  great  distances  through  a  single  connecting  wire. 

Thus  were  the  materials  for  a  practical  telegraph  collected, 
and  out  of  these,  able  men  of  Europe  and  America  soon  organ- 


44 

* 

ized   telegraphic   systems,  and  set  them   at   work.      America 
adopting  Morse's  system,  and  England  that  of  Wheatstone. 

Cable  telegraphs  followed  the  land  telegraph,  and,  if  my 
information  is  right,  England  has  the  glory  of  leading  in  the 
practical  cable  experiments,  the  first  one  laid  across  the  Chan- 
nelbeing  still  in  use,  as  good  as  new  —  and  to  her  electricians 
and  engineers  the  development  and  perfection  of  the  cable  lines 
eminently  belong,  while  thus  far  other  countries  have  only 
aspired  to  share  in  the  financial  aspect  of  these .  enterprises ; 
and  this  reminds  me  that  I  should  say  as  a  patriot  to  Sir  James 
Anderson,  that  though  these  three  times  that  he  has  brought  a 
cable  to  our  shores,  we  have  said  "  Welcome,  Englishman,"  yet 
that  this  thing  is  growing  personal,  and  if  he  lands  another 
here  before  we  send  one  to  his  continent,  we  ought  to  deem  it  a 
national  reproach. 

I  have  referred  to  these  matters  of  history  because  they  in- 
clude the  great  thought  which  underlies  modern  civilization,  and 
exemplify  the  usefulness  developed  by  following  out  new  ob- 
servations with  careful  experiment  and  reflection.  In  mechanics 
we  follow  and  endeavpr  to  imitate  and  utilize  in  our  machines 
the  curious  mechanical  arrangements  and  processes  <hat  we 
observe  in  use  in  nature :  the  triumphs  of  civilization  in  this 
line  are  mainly  imitative  developments  of  the  great  architect's 
work.  The  electric  telegraph  is  not  of  this  sort.  There  is 
nothing  like  it  on  the  planet,  nothing  in  nature  to  suggest  its 
idea.  It  is  a  creation  of  the  intellect  alone,  evolved  as  a  germ 
one  hundred  and  twenty  years  ago,  developed,  by  the  combined 
inventions  and  observations  of  a  hundred  inquiring  men  of 
science,,  into  a  grand  nervous  system  of  instantaneous  sympa- 
thetic communication,  already  connecting  four  continents  and 
many  islands  together  like  Siamese  twins,  so  that  within  a 
few  seconds  states,,  nations,  and  the  people  of  continents  may 
thrill  together  under  the  influence  of  an  idea  and  the  im- 
pulse of  one  thought,  conveyed  to  each  other  more  swiftly  than 


45 

the  air  can  carry  the  sound  of  a  horn,*or  the  brain  can  commu- 
nicate its  will  to  the  hand,  and  guided  to  the  objects  of  its 
impulse  by  a  law  as  resolute  as  that  which  guides  the  planets 
in  their  course. 

The  force,  created  by  God  for  the  purposes  of  a  final  civiliza- 
tion, had  lain,  since  the  creation,  waiting  for  the  brain  of  utilizing 
science  to  reach  the  appreciative  level,  and,  in  a  single  century 
afterwards,  this  practical  instrument  of  the  world's  progress  and 
civilization  stands  matured,  in  wide-spread  usefulness  on  every 
continent  and  in  almost  every  ocean,  a  monument  of  the  power 
of  combined  thought. 

We  recall  what  seems  to  us  the  spontaneous  seed  and  growth 
of  this  idea,  whose  fruition  is  before  us,  and  I  ask  is  there  not 
in  the  mysteries  a  law  of  God  touching  the  generation,  growth 
and  expansion  of  ideas  in  the  human  intellect,  to  us  unknown, 
but  fixed,  broad  and  certain  as  the  laws  governing  material 
nature  ?  And  while  we  claim  for  men  of  science  that  keen  ap- 
preciation of  the  laws  of  observation  and  logic,  whose  applica- 
tion requires  in  some  sort,  of  the  working  priesthood  of  modern 
civilization  and  progress,  a  vestal  abnegation  to  patient  study, 
close  attention  and  clear  logic,  as  means  of  invincible  power 
over  the  hidden  secrets,  may  we  not  reasonably  believe  that 
there  are  other  germ  ideas  now  open  before  us,  whose  growing 
development,  under  their  labors,  will  give  humanity,  in  the  future, 
a  higher  lot,  a  wider  knowledge,  a  purer  happiness,  and  a  kinder 
brotherhood  on  earth  than  we  have  yet  dreamed  of. 

Mr.  George  Frazer,  a  former  resident  of  Duxbury,  offered  the 
following  toast : 

"  The  seeds  of  the  "  Mayflower,"  though  planted  in  New  England's  cold 
December,  have  germinated,  taken  root  and  flourished,  until  their  fruits 
are  known  the  world  over." 

The  president  then  announced  the  first  message  over  the  land 
telegraphic  line  from  Boston  to  Duxbury,  as  follows : 


46 

"  The  Franklin  Telegraph  Company  sends  greeting  to  the  Cable  Tele- 
graph Company.,  and  hopes  that  the  marriage  which  has  just  been  com- 
pleted between  France  and  the  United  States  will  be  a  happy  and  a  fruitful 
one,  and  that  neither  party  will  ever  sue  for  a  divorce."  [Laughter  and 
applause.] 

Sir  James  Anderson  said  he  had  omitted,  in  speaking,  to  give 
due  honor  to  those  scientific  men  of  America  who  had  given 
their  attention  to  the  science  of  telegraphy.  He  should  fail 
in  his  duty  if  he  did  not  supply  the  omission,  and  say  how  much 
they  were  indebted  to  Professor  Morse.  No  name  in  the  science 
of  telegraphy  could  ever  be  greater  than  his.  He  also  wished 
to  thank  those  gentlemen  in  Duxbury  who  had  assisted  the  cable 
officials.  He  then  went  on  to  compliment  Mr.  Gaines,  the  chief 
clerk,  in  whom  he  thought  the  company  had  made  an  excellent 
selection. 

In  reply  to  the  gentlemen  who  had  spoken  of  the  American 
flag  disappearing  from  the  Atlantic,  he  did  not  doubt  but  that 
the  solution  of  that  was  as  clear  as  the  sun  at  noonday.  He 
maintained  that  with  free  trade  and  fair  play  the  American  flag 
could,  and  must,  resume  her  share  of  the  carrying  trade  between 
America  and  England. 

At  this  point  the  exercises  were  broken  in  upon  by  an-  inci- 
dent which  created  the  wildest  enthusiasm. 

At  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  fifty  stalwart  laborers,  under 
the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Gaines,  the  clerk  in  charge, 
had  busily  set  about  the  task  of  conveying  the  cable  from  Rouse's 
Hummock  into  the  banqueting  tent,  where,  it  was  hoped, 
it  would  be  fixed  in  time  to  send  messages,  during  the  dinner,  to 
and  from  Brest.  The  work  of  conveying  the  cable  along  the 
marsh  proved  a  heavier  task,  however,  than  was  anticipated. 
The  sun  was  broiling  hot,  the  long  coils  of  cable  were  very  un- 
wieldly  and  of  great  weight,  and  the  difficulty  of  getting  it  across 
the  different  creeks  was  so  formidable,  under  the  circumstances, 
that  the  men,  anxious  to  take  part  in  the  festivities  of  the  day, 
refused  ouce  or  twice  to  proceed.  By  the  good  generalship  of 


47 

their  superintendent,  however,  they  stuck  bravely  to  their  task, 
and  by  six  o'clock  they  triumphantly  hauled  the  cable  into  the 
tent,  amid  the  cheers  and  congratulations  of  all  present,  and  a 
deafening  salute  of  artillery.  The  rope  with  which  it  was 
hauled  was  enthusiastically  seized  by  many  volunteers  who  pulled 
lustily;  and  those  who  did  not  move  on  were  either  shouldered 
aside  or  had  their  toes  trodden  on,  as  gentle  hints  that  they  must 
get  out  of  the  way.  During  these  interesting  proceedings,  the 
guests  crowded  round  the  cable,  and  stood  upon  the  tables  to 
catch  a  sight  of  what  was  going  on,  while  the  band  played  an 
inspiriting  air,  amid  which  the  great  company  dispersed. 

CLOSING  FESTIVITIES   OP   THE   DAY. 

The  festivities  of  the  day  were  appropriately  closed  by  an 
elegant  entertainment  given  by  George  W.  Wright,  Esq.,  at  his 
splendid  residence.  Among  those  present  were  Sir  James 
Anderson,  Governor  Claflin,  Lord  Cecil,  Viscount  Parker,  Hon. 
N.  B.  Shurtleff,  Mayor  of  Boston,  Messrs.  Watson,  Brown,  and 
Gaines,  of  the  Telegraph  Company,  Hon's.  Charles  L.  Wood- 
bury,  George  0.  Brastow,  and  other  distinguished  guests.  The 
evening  was  enlivened  with  music  by  the  Germania  Band,  of 
Boston,  dancing,  and  speeches  by  Sir  James  Anderson,  Governor 
Claflin,  Mayor  Shurtleff,  Viscount  Parker,  and  Hon.  C.  L.  Wood- 
bury. 

Sir  James  Anderson,  in  proposing  the  health  of  the  host  and 
hostess,  said : 

He  regarded  this  as  something  more  than  a  convivial  feast, 
elegant  and  perfect  as  it  was  j  a  model  he  would  say,  even  for 
English  homes,  and  he  doubted  not  his  French  friends  would  say 
worthy  of  Parisian  emulation.  But  it  had  a  higher  purpose,  a 
sacred  meaning.  It  warmed  heart  to  heart,  and  only  needed  to 
be  generally  extended  to  knit  nation  to  nation.  Coming  to  him- 
self and  friends  as  strangers,  holding  accidental  position,  he  re- 


48 

ceived  it  as  a  pledge  of  a  long  and  warm  friendship,  and  would 
treasure  it  as  brightest  among  the  jewels  of  memory.  He  would 
make  it  the  inspiration  of  higher  purposes,  and  more  active  earn- 
estness to  cause  his  countrymen  to  appreciate  the  value  of  Amer- 
ican friendship  and  the  refinement  of  American  hospitality.  He 
would  tell  them,  without  reserve,  that  England's  proudest  glory, 
its  virtuous  home  and  free  hospitality,  had  successful  rivalship 
here  in  a  quiet  country  town. 

He  was  followed  by  Governor  Claflin  in  a  similar  strain  of 
happy  congratulations,  and  by  Mayor  Shurtleff,  who  spoke  in  a 
genial  and  happy  manner.  Lords  Parker  and  Sackville  Cecil 
responded  to  calls  for  speeches,  paying  many  compliments  to 
the  coterie  of  beauty  around  them.  Hon.  Charles  L<evi  Wood- 
bury  closed  this  part  of  the  entertainment  with  a  speech  full  of 
sparkling  humor,  which  called  forth  the  laughter  and  applause 
of  all  present. 

At  a  late  hour,  the  guests  separated  with  a  pleasant  and  abid- 
ing conviction  of  Duxbury  hospitality,  as  illustrated  by  Mr. 
Wright,  and  heartily  gratified  with  the  events  of  the  day. 


APPENDIX. 


As  it  is  thought  that  some  account  of  the  origin,  laying,  and 
method  of  working  of  the  French  Atlantic  Cable  may  be  interest- 
ing in  this  connection,  the  following  extracts,  the  firtit  from  the 
Boston  Herald  of  July  24th,  and  the  second  from  the  Boston 
Daily  Advertiser  of  August  31,  1869,  are  given.  The  Herald 
says : 

The  concession  for  the  building,  laying  and  working  of  the  present 
cable  was  granted  to  Baron  Emile  d'  Erlanger  of  Paris,  and  Julius 
Keuter  of  London,  July  6, 1868.  It  conveyed  the  exclusive  right  to 
run  a  cable  from  Brest,  France,  to  the  coast  of  the  United  States,  and 
to  work  it  for  twenty  years,  from  September  1, 1869,  under  the  follow- 
ing conditions:  No  soil  foreign  to  France  and  the  United  States  to  be 
touched  by  the  cable  in  its  transit;  the  price  of  a  despatch  of  twenty 
words  not  to  exceed  $20;  and  the  French  government  binding  itself 
not  to  grant  any  other  concession  for  lines  between  France  and  North 
America  during  the  period  of  twenty  years  from  the  first  of  Septem- 
ber, 1869. 

The  concession  having  been  secured,  the  new  company  was  organ- 
ized with  good  energy.  Its  capital  was  fixed  at  $6,000,000,  divided 
into  60,000  shares  of  $100  each.  In  less  than  eight  days  the  subscrip- 
tion list  was  filled  by  the  most  respectable  banking  houses  in  Europe 
and  the  shares  were  immediately  sold  at  the  London  and  Paris  Ex- 
changes at  a  premium  of  two  to  three  per  cent.  The  first  payment 
of  $1,000,000,  was  made  on  the  day  the  subscription  closed  to  the 
Telegraph  Construction  and  Maintenance  Company,  in  England,  as  an 
advance  upon  its  disbursements.  This  company,  which  had  manufac- 
tured the  former  Anglo-American  cable,  was,  by  reason  of  its  immense 
wealth  and  facilities,  the  only  one  ready  to  undertake  the  still  more 
difficult  and  costly  contract  for  the  French  cable. 
7 


50 


THE   ROUTE. 

A  survey  of  routes  of  the  cable  was  instituted,  and  has  been  con- 
tinued at  propitious  seasons  up  to  the  time  of  the  sailing  of  the  cable 
fleet.  The  route' ultimately  selected  — along  which  the  most  careful 
soundings  were  made  under  the  supervision  of  expert  scientific  men 
and  seamen — is  from  Brest,  France,  under  the  Atlantic  to  the  southern 
edge  of  the  "  Grand  Bank  ";  thence  to  the  French  island  of  St.  Pierre- 
off  the  south  coast  of  Newfoundland;  and  thence  down  past  Cape 
Breton  Island  and  Nova  Scotia  to  Boston.  The  length  of  cable  from 
Brest  to  St.  Pierre  is  2,584  miles;  from  St.  Pierre  to  Duxbury  about 
749  miles.  The  line  will  then  have  a  length  of  3,333  miles  from  end  to 
end,  nearly  1,200  miles  more  than  the  length  of  the  Anglo-American 
cable. 

The  average  depth  of  the  submarine  plateau  of  the  French  cable  is 
considerably  less  than  that  which  the  present  cable  between  this  coun- 
try and  Ireland  traverses,  and  was  recommended  by  Capt.  James 
Anderson,  formerly  of  the  Great  Eastern. 

THE   CABLE  BED. 

The  main  cable,  extending  from  deep  water  off  Brest  to  the 
junction  with  the  shore  end  at  St.  Pierre,  lies  on  one  of  those  great 
plateaus  which  are  known  to  exist  at  the  bottom  of  the  Atlantic,  on 
one  of  which  the  cable  between  Newfoundland  and  Yalentia  has  been 
laid.  This  plateau,  however,  is  much  higher  than  that  occupied  by  the 
English  cable.  By  keeping  in  the  five  hundred  fathom  line  upon 
Milne  Bank  and  around  the  southern  edge  of  the  Grand  Bank,  there 
is  no  possibility  of  ice,  or  any  other  agency  that  can  be  suggested, 
injuring  the  cable.  The  northern  edge  of  the  Grand  Bank  was 
avoided,  because  it  is  uncertain  at  what  depth  the  icebergs  ground. 
They  are  said,  upon  good  authority,  to  ground  at  times  in  ninety 
fathoms.  It  is  not  certain  at  what  depth  the  vessels  employed  in  the 
seal  trade  may  choose  to  drop  an  anchor  sometimes  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  their  station  in  the  track  of  the  ice  floes.  These  dangers  are 
avoided  in  the  track  chosen  for  the  French  cable.  Further,  the  track 
from  the  southern  edge  of  the  Grand  Bank  to  St.  Pierre,  and  thence 
to  the  place  of  landing  at  Duxbury,  is  entirely  free  from  any  danger 
from  ice,  and  does  not  cross  any  anchorage  resorted  to  by  the  fleet  of 
fishing  vessels.  The  cable  upon  Milne  Bank,  and  from  the  Grand 
Bank  to  St.  Pierre,  and  thence  to  America  (upwards  of  1,200  miles) , 


51 

will  be  laid  in  water  of  such  easy  depth  that  repairs  will  be  a  matter 
of  certainty. 

The  cable,  as  now  laid,  starts  in  very  shallow  water  from  Minou 
Bay,  but  in  four  or  five  miles  it  deepens  from  seventeen  to  twenty 
fathoms,  and  then  gradually  shelves  from  thirty  to  sixty-eight  and 
ninety  fathoms.  At  this  level,  but  on  the  whole  gradually  deepening, 
it  continues  till  in  a  line  with  the  westernmost  part  of  the  Irish  coast, 
where  taking  a  northern  course  it  passes  down  a  gentle  slope  of  sand 
that  continues  descending  till  the  depth  increases  from  two  hundred  to 
eight  hundred  and  nine  hundred  fathoms.  Over  all  the  rest  of  the 
course  to  mid-ocean  the  bottom  is  mud,  shells  and  sand,  and  with  a 
uniform  depth  of  about  two  thousand  and  two  thousand  two  hundred 
fathoms.  At  these  great  depths  there  is  an  absolute  cessation 
of  all  motion.  Over  such  a  bottom  the  line  is  taken  in  an  arc  of  a 
large  circle,  the  most  southerly  point  of  the  cable  being  in  forty-two 
degrees  north  latitude,  and  the  most  northerly  forty-eight  degrees. 
Along  the  southern  end  of  the  Newfoundland  Bank  it  is  sunk  in  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  fathoms,  the  water  on  the  Bank 
itself  varying  from  fifty  to  ninety  fathoms.  Thus  it  is  completely 
sheltered  from  ice,  which,  if  the  icebergs  pass  the  Bank  at  all,  must 
clear  the  cable  which  lies  under  its  lee  by  some  hundred  fathoms  or 
more.  From  this  point  it  is  taken  up  due  north  in  the  channel  between 
the  Green  Bank  and  the  St.  Pierre  Bank  in  an  almost  unvarying 
depth  of  five  hundred  fathoms.  From  this  point  out  the  course  is  over 
very  regular  shoal  water,  so  to  speak— being  at  no  part  less  than  one 
hundred  fathoms,  and  generally  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  —  to  its 
termination. 

THE    NEW    CABLE 

constructed  for  the  French  company  is  considered  decidedly  superior 
to  the  Anglo-American  cable,  that  is  now  working  across  the  Atlantic, 
in  that  it  has  greater  conductivity.  The  central  copper  coil,  which  is  the 
spinal  cord  — the  nerve  along  which  the  electric  fluid  is  to  run  —  is 
larger.  It  is  four  instead  of  three  sizes  in  circumference  ;  that  is,  it 
weighs  four  hundred  instead  of  three  hundred  pounds  the  mile.  To 
secure  insulation,  the  wires  are  imbedded  in  Chatterton's  compound,  a 
preparation  impervious  to  water,  and  then  covered  with  four  successive 
layers  of  gutta  percha.  Outside  of  these,  encasing  the  whole,  is  a 
spiral  net  of  steel  wires,  each  wire  surrounded  separately  with  five 
strands  of  Russian  or  Manila  hemp,  saturated  with  a  preservative 
compound.  The  entire  cable,  while  it  has  the  strength  of  an  iron 


52 

chain,  has,  at  the  same  time,  sufficient  elasticity  to  yield  like  a  rope  to 
the  variations  of  the  ocean  bed  and  motion  of  the  waves  and  currents. 
It  is  divided  into  six  sections,  viz:  the  two  shore  ends,  the  deep  sea 
section  (from  off  Brest  to  St.  Pierre,)  the  western  and  eastern  shore 
ends  at  that  island,  and  the  section  laid  thence  to  the  Massachusetts 
coast. 

A  commission  of  scientific  men,  connected  with  the  enterprise,  made 
at  the  request  of  Messrs.  D'Erlanger  and  Renter,  a  report  on  the  wire, 
estimating  its  actual  strength  at  7f  tons,  while  the  strain  required  for 
its  immersion  could  only  be  14  cwt.  The  commission  has  been  sus- 
tained in  its  favorable  report  by  the  eminently  successful  result.  It 
was  further  stated  that  the  power  of  transmitting  messages  through 
long  submarine  lines  is  no  longer  a  matter  of  doubt,  and  the  laws 
affecting  their  transmission  are  well  understood.  They  promise  with 
certainty  that  it  will  be  possible  to  send  through  the  enlarged  core 
twelve  words  per  minute,  and  by  improved  methods  of  signalling  it  is 
hoped  that  this  can  be  exceeded. 

THE    CABLE     FLEET. 

The  experience  of  the  past  had  shown  that  a  large  vessel  was  best 
adapted  to  the  business  of  consigning  to  its  ocean  bed  a  submarine 
cable,  and  as  the  Great  Eastern  had  once  successfully  performed  a 
similar  mission,  and  has  never  been  proved  to  be  adapted  to  anything 
else,  for  which  reason  she  has  for  years  been  laid  up  in  ordinary,  her 
services  were  early  secured  for  the  duty  which  she  has  once  more  suc- 
cessfully accomplished.  The  great  ship  has  been  perfected  in  .various 
ways  within  the  past  year,  a  marked  improvement  being  the  applica- 
tion of  steam  power  to  the  government  of  the  rudder,  and  so  perfect 
is  the  control  attained  by  this  means,  that  one  man  standing  at  his 
place  near  the  centre  of  the  ship  can,  with  a  turn  of  his  hand,  control 
the  huge  vessel  in  the  heaviest  weather. 

The  big  ship  took  the  cable  for  the  first  and  main  part  of  the  line 
of  communication.  Material  alterations  were  made  in  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  ship  to  enable  her  to  carry  .the  large  extra  weight  beyond 
that  of  the  Anglo-American  cable.  The  main  tank  was  increased  to 
the  enormous  diameter  of  75  feet,  and  held  1,112  miles  of  cable.  Her 
after  tank  contained  912  miles,  and  the  fore-tank  728  miles.  The 
machinery  was  substantially  the  same  as  that  used  so  successfully  upon 
the  last  occasion.  The  wheels  at  the  bow  and  stern,  the  paying-out 
and  winding-up  apparatus,  the  break  machine,  the  long  trough  for 
the  cable  —  all  were  the  same ;  and  near  the  stern  were  great  red  iron 
buoys  for  buoying  the  cable  when  necessary. 


53 

The  Great  Eastern  was  accompanied  by  three  consort  vessels.  Of 
these  the  Chiltern  proceeded  to  Brest  and  laid  the  heavy  shore  cable, 
some  six  miles  in  length.  The  end  of  this  was  buoyed  until  the  arrival 
of  the  great  ship.  The  Great  Eastern,  upon  her  arrival,  attached  the 
main  rope  to  this  end,  and  proceeded  upon  her  way  to  St.  Pierre, 
accompanied  by  the  Chiltern  and  Scanderia.  Each  of  these  vessels 
carried  a  portion  of  the  cable,  and  was  furnished  with  grappling-irons, 
buoys  and  picking-up  machinery  precisely  similar  to  those  on  board 
the  Great  Eastern.  The  William  Cory  came  on  in  advance  with  a  por- 
tion of  the  cable,  and  laid  the  heavy  shore  end  at  St.  Pierre,  buoying 
the  end  in  readiness  for  attachment  to  the  main  cable  upon  the  arrival 
of  the  Great  Eastern.  The  remaining  portion  of  the  cable  on  board 
the  William  Cory  was  then  used,  a  splice  to  be  effected  to  the  line  on 
board  the  Scanderia,  the  length  to  be  completed  with  the  portion  borne 
by  the  Chiltern,  and  the  line  thus  be  finished  to  Duxbury. 

GETTING  AWAY. 

On  the  llth  of  June  a  banquet  was  had  on  board  the  Great  East- 
ern, at  which  were  present  Sir  Daniel  Gooch,  M.  P.,  Chairman  of  the 
Telegraph  Construction  and  Maintenance  Company;  Messrs.  John 
Pender,  Ralph  Elliot,  Thomas  Brassey,  M.  P.;  Captain  Sherard 
Osborn,  Sir  Samuel  Canning,  Mr.  Julius  Keuter,  Sir  James  Ander- 
son, Mr.  Yarley,  Prof.  Jenkin,  Baron  D'Erlanger,  Lord  Hay,  Lord 
Houghton,  Mr.  Elliot,  Mr.  J.  B.  Burt,  Secretary  of  the  Anglo  Medi- 
terranean Company;  Mr.  E.  Slater,  Secretary  of  the  French  Cable 
Company;  Mr.  T.  Cramp  ton,  the  layer  of  the  first  successful  subma- 
rine cable,  and  many  others.  The  visitors  examined  the  various 
details  of  the  arrangements  for  laying  the  cablo,  and  after  having 
been  seated  at  the  table,  Sir  D.  Gooch  proposed  the  toast,  "  Prosperity 
to  the  French  Cable  Company."  This  was  warmly  responded  to  by 
Lord  Hay,  who  stated  that  the  Company  had  the  highest  reasons  to 
be  grateful  to  the  Construction  Company  for  the  manner  in  which 
they  had  performed  their  work.  The  cable  was  excellent  in  its  work, 
and  had  been  completed  eighteen  days  under  the  stipulated  time. 
Baron  D'Erlanger  proposed  the  toast  of  the  day,  "  Success  to  the  great 
work  of  laying  down  the  cable."  This  was  briefly  responded  to  by 
Mr,  Pender  and  Lord  Houghton,  and  before  separating  the  company 
expressed  their  best  wishes  to  Captain  Halpin,  the  commander  of  the 
Great  Eastern,  that  the  enterprise  might  be  crowned  with  the  success 
it  deserved. 


54 

The  Great  Eastern  left  the  Thames  at  half-past  11  o'clock  on  tbe 
12th  of  June,  and  proceeded  to  Brest,  and  left  that  port  for  St.  Pierre  on 
the  morning  of  the  same  month,  many  bumpers  to  the  success  of  her 
voyage  having  been  drank  at  a  banquet  in  Brest  the  previous  evening. 

ST.  PIERRE. 

When  the  French  government  granted  permission  to  lay  a  cable 
from  Brest  it  was  stipulated  that  no  soil  foreign  to  France  and  the 
United  States  should  be  touched  in  its  transit,  and  so  St.  Pierre,  one 
of  the  group  of  small  French  islands  which  is  supposed  to  have  been 
known  to  the  Basque  fishermen  before  the  Northmen  discovered 
Vinland,  lying  on  the  southwest  coast  of  Newfoundland,  came  to  be 
the  first  landing  place.  It  is  so  rocky  as  to  wholly  preclude  vegetation 
of  the  tenderer  sort,  but  has  had  an  interest  to  the  French  govern- 
ment because  large  fishing  fleets  have  for  years  been  sent  out  there, 
by  the  inducement  of  liberal  bounties.  These  fleets  employ  as  many 
as  twelve  thousand  men  at  St.  Pierre  and  the  Great  and  Little  Mique- 
lon  Islands,  which  form  the  group.  The  population  subsist  entirely  by 
fishing.  The  cod,  herring  and  whale  fisheries  have  proved  very  pro- 
ductive, and  France  has  had  the  sagacity  to  hold  fast  by  her  little 
North  American  nursery.  It  is  added,  moreover,  that  for  a  year  past 
France  has  been  industriously  accumulating  military  stores  at  St. 
Pierre,  but  for  what  purpose  is  not  definitely  known. 

TWO  HOURS  WITH  THE  FRENCH  CABLE. 

[From   the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,  August  31,  1869.] 

A  small  party  of  scientific  gentlemen,  members  of  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  which  closed  its  sessions 
at  Salem  last  week,  received  and  accepted  an  invitation  on  Thursday, 
26th  instant,  to  visit  the  cable  office  in  Duxbury.  From  Boston  to 
Kingston  station  by  rail  thirty- three  miles,  thence  by  coach  five  miles, 
brought  the  party  to  the  landing.  In  an  old,  but  well-preserved,  clap- 
board mansion  of  that  quaint  old  town  were  found  the  headquarters  of 
this  new  and  wonderful  highway.  The  visitors  were  cordially  wel- 
comed by  the  manager,  Mr.  Brown,  and  were  at  once  brought  into  the 
presence  of  the  flitting,  flame-like  image  which  indicated,  in  symbols 
on  a  graduated  screen,  the  thoughts  working  at  that  instant  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Interpreting  the  fitful  tremor  of  the  image, 
or  line  of  light,  one  inch  in  length  and  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  breadth, 
the  youthful  interpreter,  who  did  not  look  the  wizard  that  he  was, 


55     , 

calmly  read,  for  transcription  by  his  assistant,  a  message  in  which 
occured  at  intervals  the  words  "New  Orleans" — "Citizens"  —  etc., 
etc.  While  inspecting  the  apparatus  the  members  of  the  party  re- 
ceived the  following  message  fresh  from  France,  sent  expressly  to 
them : 

"  To  DUXBTJHY,  FROM  BREST  —  Time  5:20  p.  M.  [Paris  Time.] 

"  The  company  present  their  compliments  to  the  gentlemen  assembled  at  Boston,  and 
hope  to  be  able  to  send  them  news  of  the  great  international  boat  race  that  will  be  gratifying 
to  both  nations." 

The  usual  rate  of  transmission  from  Brest  to  St.  Pierre  is  about 
ten  or  twelve  words  per  minute,  and  from  St.  Pierre  to  Duxbury  about 
twenty  words.  Looking  for  the  mechanism  by  which  these  wonderful 
results  were  obtained,  the  inquiring  visitors  observed  on  their  right 
placed  on  a  marble  pedestal,  a  medium-sized  spool  of  silk-covered  copper 
wire,  said  to  consist  of  several  thousand  turns  or  convolutions,  in  the  cen- 
tre of  which  spool,  suspended  by  a  single  silk- worm  fibre,  was  a  minute 
mirror  attached  to  a  little  magnet  made  from  a  piece  of  watch  spring. 
From  a  lamp  properly  placed  and  shaded  a  beam  of  light  was  thrown 
upon  this  mirror,  and  from  the  mirror  was  reflected  two  hundred  times 
enlarged  upon  the  graduated  screen  in  front  of  the  interpreter,  the 
flame-like  image  already  mentioned.  In  transmitting  from  Duxbury 
to  Brest,  the  operator  with  his  right  hand  makes  use  of  two  keys 
or  springs,  one  of  which,  being  pressed,  causes  at  Brest  a  deflection  in 
a  similar  mirror,  sending  the  image-flame  to  the  right,  while  pressing 
the  other  key  deflects  the  mirror  at  Brest  in  the  opposite  direction, 
sending  the  image  to  the  left.  Its  indications  are  thus  interpreted :  a 
jerk  or  flitting  once  to  the  left  and  then  once  to  the  right  denotes  the 
letter  a;  a  flitting  once  to  the  right  and  then  three  times  to  the  left 
denotes  the  letter  6;  and  thus  letter  by  letter  the  words  are 
spelled. 

Passing  to  an  adjoining  room,  the  delicate  instruments  used  for 
testing  the  electric  conduction  of  the  cable  are  shown— among  which 
are  condensers  and  batteries,  rheostats  and  shunts,  bridges,  switches 
and  plugs,  and,  crowning  all,  the  wonderful  astatic  galvanometer  of 
Sir  William  Thompson.  But  possibly  it  would  weary  our  readers  to 
tell  of  ohms  and  megohms,  farads  andmegafarads,  volts  and  microvolts, 
and  all  the  terminology  of  conduction,  resistance,  electrostatic  capacity, 
and  continued  electrification.  It  may,  however,  gratify  them  to  learn 
that  the  insulation  of  the  deep-sea  cable,  between  Brest  and  St.  Pierre, 
has  more  than  doubled  in  efficacy  during  the  short  month  which  has 
elapsed  since  this  cable  was  first  committed  to  the  embraces  of  Old 
Ocean  —  as  is  evinced  by  the  fact  that  soon  after  it  was  laid,  the  insula- 


56 

tion  resistance  rose  to  2,300  megohms,  and  has  since  been  gradually 
increasing  until  it  is  now  5,000  megohms  per  nautical  mile.  This 
improvement  in  the  insulation  of  the  deep-sea  cable  is  believed  to  be 
mainly  due  to  the  coldness  or  diminished  temperature  to  whijh  it  is 
subjected  at  great  ocean  depths. 

If  one  would  inquire  of  a  cable  electrician  —  what  is  a  megohm  ? 
he  might  with  propriety  be  told  that  it  is  a  million  ohms.  Should  he 
still  further  inquire  —  but  what  is  an  ohm  ?  a  suitable  reply  would  be, 
it  is  the  yardstick  of  the  electrician  by  which  he  measures  the  electric 
condition  of  conductors,  and  which  may  be  represented  by  a  round  wire 
of  pure  copper  one-twentieth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  240  feet  in 
length,  at  the  temperature  of  60  degrees  of  the  Fahrenheit  thermome- 
ter ;  while  a  megohm,  by  which  he  measures  the  resistance  of  insula- 
tors, is  a  unit,  the  length  of  which  is  a  million  times  as  great. 

After  being  duly  initiated  into  the  interesting  mysteries  of  cable 
working  and  cable  book-keeping,  the  members  of  the  party  partook  of 
a  sumptuous  repast,  given  by  the  gentlemen  in  charge.  During  this 
repast,  they  were  agreeably  interested  by  thrilling  accounts  of  various 
incidents  and  hairbreadth  escapes  during  the  eventful  voyage  in  laying 
the  cable. 

Mr.  Brown  and  Mr.  Gaines  are  gentlemen  of  long  experience  in 
connection  with  the  Malta  and  Alexandria  cables.  Mr.  Smith,  who 
represents  the  interests  of  the  telegraph  construction  and  maintenance 
company,  has  assisted  in  laying  most  of  the  important  cables,  from  the 
first  one  that  crossed  the  channel,  to  this  last  great  triumph.-.  The 
number  of  persons  engaged  in  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  office,  and 
of  the  land  lines,  are  about  a  dozen  in  all;  some  of  them  being  on  duty 
at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night — for  it  must  be  remembered,  that 
when  it  is  midnight  at  Duxbury  it  is  daybreak  at  Brest  (France),  so 
that  a  telegram  dated,  like  the  one  given  above,  at  five  o'clock  and 
twenty  minutes,  p.  M.,  Paris  time,  is  really  sent  at  twelve  o'clock  and 
twenty  minutes,  P.  M.,  Duxbury  or  Boston  time.  It  may  be  deemed 
worthy  of  remark  that  in  the  transmission  of  messages  of  business  for 
the  public  the  time  recorded  is  that  of  Paris,  in  business  for  the  service 
of  the  cable  company.  Greenwich  time  —  the  same  as  on  the  original 
cable  between  Ireland  and  Newfoundland  —  and  in  the  local  business 
of  the  Duxbury  office,  Boston  time. 

After  cordially  thanking  the  courteous  and  efficient  manager  and 
his  associates,  the  gentlemen  constituting  the  party  terminated  their 
long  to  be  remembered  visit  at  the  Cable-house  in  Duxbury. 


57 


COMPLIMENTARY   CORRESPONDENCE. 

The  following  interchanges  of  civilities  passed  between  the  Board  of 
Directors  of  the  Franco- American  Cable  Company  and  the  Mayor  of  Bos- 
ton. 

On  the  evening  of  the  27th  of  July,  at  fifteen  minutes   past  seven 
o'clock,  the  Directors  sent  from  Paris  the  following,  which  was  received  at 
the  cable  house  too  late  to  be  read  at  the  banquet : 
The  Board  of  Directors  of  the  French- American  Cable  to  His  Excellency,  the 

Mayor  of  Boston : 

Please  accept  our  sincerest  thanks  for  the  kind  welcome  extended  to 
our  representatives.  We  are  happy  you  should  lend  your  aid  to  the 
establishment  of  our  cable,  looking  upon  it  as  a  great  enterprise  bringing 
the  two  countries  in  closer  and  more  cordial  union.  While  you  drink  the 
toast  to  the  two  great  and  friendly  nations,  our  thoughts  will  follow  and  we 
shall  drink  to  the  health  of  those  who  have  so  warmly  received  our  rep- 
resentatives on  their  hospitable  shores. 

(Signed)  ERLANGER. 

Subsequently  Mayor  Shurtleff  received  at  Boston  the  following  telegram 
sent  from  London : 

LONDON,  July  28,  1869. 
The  Mayor  of  Boston : 

The  Board  of  the  French  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company  return  their 
warmest  thanks  for  the  splendid  reception  accorded  in  the  United  States 
to  their  undertaking. 

The  goodwill  thus  exhibited  is  sincerely  reciprocated  by  the  Board, 
who  confidently  look  to  their  cable  proving  the  means  of  uniting  still 
more  closely  in  friendly  feelings  the  people  of  the  two  continents. 

The  cable  will  now  be  opened  to  the  public  with  the  least  possible  delay 
compatible  with  the  termination  of  the  European  land  lines. 

(Signed)  ROBERT   SLATER,  JUNIOR,  Sec'y. 

The  response  of  the  Mayor  of  Boston  was  as  follows  : 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  CITY  HALL,  BOSTON,  29  July,  1869. 
To  the  Board  of  the  French  Atlantic  Telegraphic  Company,  greeting : 

The  Mayor  of  Boston,  in  behalf  of  his  fellow-citizens,  acknowledges  the 
kindly  expressed  sentiments  of  reciprocal  regard;  and,  rejoicing  in  the 
successful  accomplishment  of  the  grand  enterprise,  which  will  strengthen 
the  bonds  of  international  friendship  and  the  community  of  the  social, 
moral  and  intellectual  attributes  of  human  nature,  returns  to  the  Tele- 
graphic Company  the  most  cordial  sentiments  of  respect,  with  the  best 
wishes  of  the  Boston  people. 

NATHANIEL   B.  SHURTLEFF,  Mayor. 

To  ROBERT  SLATER,  Jr.,  Secretary,  London. 


I.V    I 


